With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share five records THEY love.
I don’t think we’ve covered any artist more than J(ohnny) Waylon’s Friends of Cesar Romero. His punky power pop tunes check every box: catchy, concise songs about heartbreak and longing, all wrapped up in the aptly titled Doomed Babe series. That series is now at installment 47, with somewhere between 150 and 200 songs—enough to camp out on Johnny’s Bandcamp for days and still stumble on a new favorite. His output is that consistently fun and amazing.
Just this year alone, Friends of Cesar Romero released a full-length, an EP, and three singles. That burst of productivity seemed like the perfect excuse to (finally!) rope him into a Gimme 5 feature. He jumped on it immediately, taking a wonderfully fun angle: exploring the art of first impressions by sharing some of his favorite opening lines in music. Enjoy reading—and listening. (Note: Johnny put all eight picks in one convenient playlist here.)
Opening lines that hooked me || By J(Johnny) Waylon
“I’ve spent most of my life since I was 10 years old thinking about rock ’n’ roll. How to obtain this magic ability that all my favorite bands and musicians seem to have: the look, the sound, the hooks, all of it. As a struggling songwriter, I work tirelessly on trying to construct the perfect chorus, but I often forget that the opening line is the listener’s first impression—the moment that makes them want to continue forward with the track.
There are a million songs with a million heartfelt lines, but here are some opening lyrics that made me perk up and pay attention.”
John K. Samson || Select All Delete
“That hashtag wants me dead but I don’t mind”
“I rarely want to use modern lexicon in my songs; I secretly hope my words will be timeless. But I can always appreciate boldness in getting your message across. His album Winter Wheat is the musical equivalent of a page-turner. Canada’s greatest songwriter. Yeah, I said it.”
Loretta Lynn || One’s On The Way
“They say to have her hair done, Liz flies all the way to France”
“Another song that made my ears say: Tell me more. I could easily write a 10-page essay on country song line openers, but this Loretta track hooked me from the start. She is a songwriting goddess I constantly look to for guidance.”
Hellbender || Long Distance Phone Bill Runner
“Things are getting ugly like movie stars getting old / like movie stars who refuse to die”
“Con Limón is one of my all-time favorite breakup records, right up there with Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks or Beck’s Sea Change.”
Keene Brothers || Death of the Party
“She used to be an American Airline”
“Bobby Pollard Jr. and Thomas Clay Keene, one album? GTFO RN ASAP MF’R! When I first heard this lyric, it messed me up. I thought to myself, Can you really say that? Tommy Keene’s gracefully disarming power pop track with Pollard’s words—a beautiful mind fuck.”
Stereotyperider || Down As
“How the fuck should I start this? ’Cause I got so much to say”
“This is how you open a fuckin’ album! Songs that question one’s mortality will always make for a fascinating listen. Prolonging The Inevitable is this band’s Empire Strikes Back—dark, heavy, bandmembers leaving, only someone with a metal hand and The Force as their ally could play riffage this sick.”
Honorable mentions
Refused || Summerholidays vs. Punkroutine
“I’m tired of losing myself to some stupid childhood dream of what I could have been”
“This lyric resonates with me now more than it ever did back in 1998. That kinda bums me out, but it’s too late—I’m a rock ’n’ roll lifer.”
Tammy Wynette || Stand By Your Man
“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman giving all your love to just one man”
“One of the greatest obvious openers of all time. It shreds every dude from the time she sang it until eternity. Operative word: Sometimes.”
Chris Bell || I Am The Cosmos
“Every night I tell myself I am the cosmos, I am the wind”
“So beautiful I cry when I haven’t heard it in a while. Always makes me pine for what could’ve been. Fuck.”
Editor’s note: And that’s that, thanx Johnny! Head over to the FOCR Bandcamp for all the good stuff. Oh, if I had to pick my favorite J Waylon opening line it would be: “I’m too old to die young” from Quality Inn Cambodia.
As far as I’m concerned, Friends of Cesar Romero is the best discovery of 2025.
Greetings from Sardinia.