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Not that kind; I'm talking about intros. Kind of has to be in a narrative art (includes music). Here are two that come briskly to mind:
"Call me Ishmael."
Jeff Beck's attack into Donovan's "Barabajagal."
WORLD-CLASS HOOKS What you got?
#2
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Posted 2015-June-20, 13:54
"It was a dark and stormy night"
Alderaan delenda est
#3
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Posted 2015-June-20, 14:40
hrothgar, on 2015-June-20, 14:16, said:
"It was a dark and stormy night"
Psych (pron. saik): A gross and deliberate misstatement of honour strength and/or suit length. Expressly permitted under Law 73E but forbidden contrary to that law by Acol club tourneys.
Psyche (pron. sahy-kee): The human soul, spirit or mind (derived, personification thereof, beloved of Eros, Greek myth).
Masterminding (pron. m
s
t
r-m
nd
ing) tr. v. - Any bid made by bridge player with which partner disagrees.
"Gentlemen, when the barrage lifts." 9th battalion, King's own Yorkshire light infantry,
2000 years earlier: "morituri te salutant"
"I will be with you, whatever". Blair to Bush, precursor to invasion of Iraq
Psyche (pron. sahy-kee): The human soul, spirit or mind (derived, personification thereof, beloved of Eros, Greek myth).
Masterminding (pron. m
str-mnding) tr. v. - Any bid made by bridge player with which partner disagrees."Gentlemen, when the barrage lifts." 9th battalion, King's own Yorkshire light infantry,
2000 years earlier: "morituri te salutant"
"I will be with you, whatever". Blair to Bush, precursor to invasion of Iraq
#4
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Posted 2015-June-20, 14:59
World class is a tough standard. But if you will settle for "Can still remember it fifty some years after I read it", then I submit:
"I am an American, Chicago born".
From The Adventures of Augie March.
I am unable to explain why this got me, it just did.
And for music: Many years ago I saw Porgy and Bess. As I recall it, the very first thing was this woman stepped out on the stage singing "Summertime, and the living is easy... " I regret to say I don't know who it was, but it was as if I had never heard it before. Done the way she did it, I never had. If anything happened before she started singing, I have forgotten it.
"I am an American, Chicago born".
From The Adventures of Augie March.
I am unable to explain why this got me, it just did.
And for music: Many years ago I saw Porgy and Bess. As I recall it, the very first thing was this woman stepped out on the stage singing "Summertime, and the living is easy... " I regret to say I don't know who it was, but it was as if I had never heard it before. Done the way she did it, I never had. If anything happened before she started singing, I have forgotten it.
Ken
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Posted 2015-June-20, 18:45
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
#6
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Posted 2015-June-20, 19:43
100 Best first lines e.g.
Jane Austin (in Pride and Prejudice) said:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
#7
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Posted 2015-June-20, 19:56
Some great first lines are not hooks; some hooks are not just one line:
"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
Raymond Chandler, _Red Wind_
and very many Keith Richard specials in 4 bars or less
maybe the first four notes of Ludwig's Ninth?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
Raymond Chandler, _Red Wind_
and very many Keith Richard specials in 4 bars or less
maybe the first four notes of Ludwig's Ninth?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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Posted 2015-June-20, 20:34
Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine…
When a deaf person goes to court is it still called a hearing?
What is baby oil made of?
What is baby oil made of?
#9
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Posted 2015-June-20, 21:40
Music: in my opinion, the best intro, by a mile, Honky Tonk Women by the Stones.
Rik
Rik
I want my opponents to leave my table with a smile on their face and without matchpoints on their score card - in that order.
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!), but “That’s funny…” – Isaac Asimov
The only reason God did not put "Thou shalt mind thine own business" in the Ten Commandments was that He thought that it was too obvious to need stating. - Kenberg
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!), but “That’s funny…” – Isaac Asimov
The only reason God did not put "Thou shalt mind thine own business" in the Ten Commandments was that He thought that it was too obvious to need stating. - Kenberg
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Posted 2015-June-20, 22:26
Flem72, on 2015-June-20, 19:56, said:
maybe the first four notes of Ludwig's Ninth?
Surely you mean the Fifth. (Cue rant about all the conductors who don't realize the first 3 notes are pickups.)
Also, the Violin Concerto.
Plus the opening of the Rite of Spring.
Maybe the last Schubert string quartet qualifies.
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Posted 2015-June-21, 01:14
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess: "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
Gordon Rainsford
London UK
London UK
#12
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Posted 2015-June-21, 06:02
Brown sugar.
Layla.
Whole lotta love.
Black magic woman.
Statesboro blues.
I coulda been somebody.
It was the best of times.
Winter is coming.
This is the end.
Layla.
Whole lotta love.
Black magic woman.
Statesboro blues.
I coulda been somebody.
It was the best of times.
Winter is coming.
This is the end.
If you lose all hope, you can always find it again -- Richard Ford in The Sportswriter
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Posted 2015-June-21, 07:45
akwoo, on 2015-June-20, 22:26, said:
Surely you mean the Fifth. (Cue rant about all the conductors who don't realize the first 3 notes are pickups.)
Also, the Violin Concerto.
Plus the opening of the Rite of Spring.
Maybe the last Schubert string quartet qualifies.
Also, the Violin Concerto.
Plus the opening of the Rite of Spring.
Maybe the last Schubert string quartet qualifies.
Don't call me Surely.
Yes I do.
#14
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Posted 2015-June-21, 09:24
Whew, I'm glad that got cleared up. I was trying to think "Do I even know the first four notes of the ninth symphony?" The answer is no. And then I carelessly read the correction and thought "Oh, I am supposed to know the first five notes?".
The Fifth. Yes, even I know those notes.
The Fifth. Yes, even I know those notes.
Ken
#15
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Posted 2015-June-21, 09:34
The following is not the beginning of Carmen, but it comes from when she first appears:
Quand je vous aimerai?
Ma foi, je ne sais pas,
Peut-ętre jamais, peut-ętre demain.
Mais pas aujourd'hui, c'est certain!
translation
For a succinct introduction to the dramatic issue to be addressed, this is hard to beat.
Quand je vous aimerai?
Ma foi, je ne sais pas,
Peut-ętre jamais, peut-ętre demain.
Mais pas aujourd'hui, c'est certain!
translation
For a succinct introduction to the dramatic issue to be addressed, this is hard to beat.
Ken
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Posted 2015-June-21, 13:32
'It was the day my grandmother exploded'. Iain Banks opening to The Crow Road.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
#17
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Posted 2015-June-21, 13:50
Smoke on the Water - arguably the most known rock intro
Preempts are Aberlour's best bridge friends
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Posted 2015-June-21, 14:13
For the 20th century analogue of the first 4 notes of Beethoven's 5th, how about the clarinet trill and glissando in "Rhapsody in Blue"?
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Posted 2015-June-21, 15:35
barmar, on 2015-June-21, 14:13, said:
For the 20th century analogue of the first 4 notes of Beethoven's 5th, how about the clarinet trill and glissando in "Rhapsody in Blue"?
Yes!
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Posted 2015-September-15, 08:03
nige1, on 2015-June-20, 19:43, said:
Number 9 on your list ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.") would have been my choice and it sort of provides a natural progression into Game of Thrones.
(-: Zel :-)