While the Charlottesville, Virginia-born rock group known as the Dave Matthews Band is beloved by many for its live shows, improvisation, and unique blend of musicianship, the outfit also has quite a few songs that people know lyrically by heart. Just walk into any of the large crowds at DMB shows and you’ll see people mouthing the words to the titular frontman’s songs.
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Indeed, while the band is top-notch when it comes to their instruments, Matthews has also written a number of excellent songs. And here below, we wanted to explore three of them. A trio of tracks with excellent lyrics. And to prove that point, let’s take a look at those three songs’ opening lines. Indeed, these are three of the best opening lines from Dave Matthews Band tunes.
[RELATED: 3 Essential Dave Matthews Band Songs for Those Looking To Learn More]
“Ants Matching” from Under the Table and Dreaming (1994)
One of the band’s first hits, this song is about the mundane drudgery of the 9-to-5 life. We all each only have one life to live, so why spend it like ants marching to and from a dead-end job we don’t love? That is the central question to this otherwise imaginative offering from Matthews and company. And to open the song, which Matthews has said came to him especially quickly in one big burst, he sings,
He wakes up in the morning
Does his teeth bite to eat and he’s rolling
Never changes a thing
The week ends the week begins
“Crash Into Me” from Crash (1996)
Certainly DMB’s most well-known track, this song has a strange subject: a peeping Tom. He’s in love with a woman from afar and Matthews sings from his perspective. Few artists could get away with such a narrative, but Matthews does it with charm and staying power. As a result, it’s become a classic song from the 1990s. And on the sweet-sounding, acoustic-driven tune, he begins,
You’ve got your ball
You’ve got your chain
Tied to me tight, tie me up again
“Big Eyed Fish” from Busted Stuff (2002)
Super fans originally heard this song on the bootleg Dave Matthews Band record The Lillywhite Sessions. But since that was never officially released, the group put out the album Busted Stuff in 2002 that boasted many of the same songs, including the fan favorite “Big Eyed Fish.” On the track, Matthews sings about something he does only occasionally: animals. He starts the track singing about the titular character, the big-eyed fish, and instantly that gets our attention. We listen as he begins,
Look at this ‘Big Eyed’ fish,
Swimming in the Sea,
Oh…
How it dreams to be a bird
Swoop’n, divin’ through the breeze
Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
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