Sometimes songs will take a second to get good.
A first line will intrigue you. Or you’ll totally miss it, and it’s the chorus that makes you start paying attention.
I’ll admit this happens to me a lot unless I’m specifically listening to a song with the lyrics in front of me.
Most of the time I’m distracted until some random second verse line or a key change in the chorus. Whatever makes me close the tab I have open or set down my phone and stare at Spotify for a while.
But sometimes, songs will just knock it right out the park immediately.
The very first words out of the singer’s mouth will mesmerize you, destroy you, make you pull the car over to rest your head on the steering wheel.
Sometimes the first lines are just so perfect, so wonderful that they’re the best in the song.
A while back, we asked the Whiskey Riffers to share their favorite opening lines in country music:
So, here are some of the best:
“Feathered Indians” by Tyler Childers
Well, my buckle makes impressions, on the inside of her thigh
“Shake The Frost” by Tyler Childers
You remind me of a Sunday, back home in old Kentucky…
“Birmingham” by Zach Bryan
Well, I killed a man in Birmingham…
“Mine” by Zach Bryan
There’s a fire burnin’ in the basement, that I’d only stoke for you…
“Enemy” by Cam Davis
I walk on the same glass that I broke, when I busted the man in the mirror in the nose…
“Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile
I wear my father’s leather on the inside on my skin…
“The Story” by Brandi Carlile
All of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am…
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones
He said, “I’ll love you till I die,” She told him, “You’ll forget in time…”
“Honey on My Tongue” by Steep Canyon Rangers
You’re gonna leave, I better get used to that…
“Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson
Well, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie…
“Man! I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain
Let’s go girls!
“Fire Away” by Chris Stapleton
Honey, load up your questions, and pick up your sticks and your stones…
“Ballad of a Southern Man” by Whiskey Myers
My first rifle was a .243…
“Whiskey Lullaby” by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss
She put him out, like the burin’ end of a midnight cigarette…
“Good Lord Lorrie” by Turnpike Troubadours
Lorrie lit a cigarette and smiled and waved the smoke out of her face…
“The Chair” by George Strait
Will excuse me, but I think you got my chair…
“Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Kris Kristofferson
Well, I woke up Sunday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt…
“Friends In Low Places” by Garth Brooks
Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots…
“Turtles All The Way Down” by Sturgill Simpson
I’ve seen Jesus play with flames, in a lake of fire that I was standing in…
“Luckenbach Texas” by Waylon Jennings
The only two things in life that make it worth livin’, is guitars that tune good and firm-feelin’ women…
