I recently had the privilege of attending a David Bazan concert in Lexington. Most known for his work as the primary songwriter and singer for the band Pedro the Lion, Bazan has been performing under his own name for the last 5 or so years. Though his philosophical viewpoints and harmonic language has evolved over the course of his 16-year professional music career, his ability to immediately grab a listener's attention with an intriguing opening lyric(s) has remained constant. Since we've been discussing good opening sentences in criticism, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite opening Pedro/Bazan lyrics.
"This is how we multiply / Pity that it's not my wife" - Rapture
"A white ghost is making his way up the west coast / Trying to focus his high hopes on a vagina or two / He's taking his chances - Cold Beer and Cigarettes
"I clung to miracles I had not seen / From ancient autographs I cannot read" - Bearing Witness
"They might have burned / But the priests were all taking turns / Showing nuns what they had discerned about their bodies in the dark" - Harmless Sparks
"My jail shoes on / The well kept cemetery lawn / Both of them weeping / Their one good son now is gone" - Bad Things to Such Good People
"Having no idea that his youngest son was dead / Farmer and his sweet young wife slept soundly in his bed" - Discretion
"And when his tiny head emerged from blood and foils of skin / I thought to myself if he only knew he would climb right back in" - I Do
"Blood stains on the carpet / Blood stains on my hands / Drag her toward the kitchen / Hide the evidence" - Never Leave A Job Half Done
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