Red Mosquito

The direction of the eye
So misleading
The defection of the soul
Nauseously quick

Sliding
Out of reverse into drive
This wheel will be turning left
Then straight
Off in the sunset she’ll ride

Matters wrote:“Once divided nothing left to subtract
Some words when spoken can't be taken back”

Fairly simple but works so well to set up the rest of the song.

Just about every song from Vitalogy feels like an acceptable answer in this thread.

These might be my favorite opening lyrics too, along with Last Exit and Corduroy. Makes a strong case for Vitalogy having the best lyrics overall. Ed conjured a lot of descriptive and beautiful storytelling on Vitalogy.

“Waiting, watching the clock it’s 4:00,
it's got to stop
Tell him, "Take no more"
She practices her speech
As he opens the door, she rolls over
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over”


Good god that’s powerful and sad.

Also, Bugs. The story of a young, precocious cockroach who yearns for more out of life than her provincial coackroach village can offer.

While I generally love the lyrics on Gigaton, most of those songs don't open with their best foot forward.

I want to shake
I want to wind out
I want to leave
This mind and shout

I've lived all this life
Like an ocean in disguise
I don't live forever
You can't keep me here

...is a really striking way to start an album.

the second stanza especially. Ive lived all this life like an ocean in disguise is a pretty great line

that's so far out in front of the rest of the catalog it hardly seems fair to enter it into the conversation

When did they record that?

that corduroy line is not only the best opening line, but maybe eddie vedder's best vocal take ever. you can hear the waiting driving him mad, the guy is amazing.