No Rock And Roll Fun

WE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN IT A NAME WITHOUT 'WEEKEND' IN IT, REALLY: More 'best opening lines ever:'

Adam Bonin - known to you (and me) as the force behind throwingthings blog (and if you haven't read his comparison of the lives of Jesus and Suge Knight, make time to do so now) offers these hefty openers:

From Prince's "When Doves Cry" -- "Dig, if you will, the picture/Of you and I engaged in a kiss" The "if you will" aside is just priceless. Or "I was dreaming when I wrote this/Forgive me if it goes astray" from "1999", another nice little narrative twist.

Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City" -- "Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night". Who's the chicken man? Why'd they blow up his house too? And who are they, anyway?

We do agree wholeheartedly about the Prince ones - 'You walked in/ I woke up' is a really great little couplet, too, let's not forget; the 'if you will' is, as Adam suggests, a totally under-rated construction in pop. Maybe if Barry Norman had been persuaded to make a few records we'd have seen it take its place right up there. Not too sure about Bruce, though... it sounds like he's trying just a little bit too hard to us. Although we are curious as to who the chicken man is - maybe it's Danny Kelly, who did do a fine Foghorn Leghorn impression as we recall.

The standard has been set high - can you match up? xrrf-lines@bothsidesnow.co.uk.