3 of the Best Opening Lines in 1970s Classic Rock Songs

Ah, the 1970s. The golden era for classic rock. Except back then, it was just called rock music. It’s taken decades to apply the classic moniker to the genre. But how sweet those decades have been. Like a roast just marinating in seasoning and sauce. Now, the music from that decade hits even better. Time to reflect has only bolstered the tunes’ reputations.

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Here below, we wanted to dive into three specific songs from the era. A trio of tracks that not only rock listeners’ socks off but open with stunning lyrical prowess. Indeed, these are three of the best opening lines in 1970s classic rock songs.

[RELATED: No Skips: 4 Classic Rock Albums You’ll Never Have to Fast-Forward]

“Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen from Born to Run (1975)

The song that began the legacy of Bruce Springsteen. At least, this is the single that first hit the Top 40 for the New Jersey-born artist, peaking at the No. 23 position. It’s passionate to the 11th degree and it tells the story of two lovers who need to get out and go anywhere at all. Break off your hometown and find yourself in a new world. And Springsteen sets it all up with a tremendous opening, in which he belts,

In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
In suicide machines

“Because the Night” by Patti Smith from Easter (1978)

Speaking of Bruce Springsteen, he wrote this song for one of his own albums in the 1970s but the track never felt quite right. So, at the request of his then-engineer Jimmy Iovine, Springsteen gave it to the famed poet-rocker Patti Smith, who put her own spin on it and turned it into a classic 1970s rock love song. She imbues the track with such strain and a sense of gaunt physicality that you believe every word she sings. Including the opening,

Take me now, baby, here as I am
Pull me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger, is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed

“Coyote” by Joni Mitchell from Hejira (1977)

This song begins in the middle. Or at least that’s what it seems to do. Like we’re dropped smack-dab in the middle of a conversation between two lovers or two prospective lovers or just two people entwined in some romantic mess that we don’t know what to do. We’re struggling right along with them. And that’s how Mitchell wants it in this lovely song, which opens,

No regrets coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I’m up all night in the studios
And you’re up early on your ranch

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