Werewolves of London has best opening line, says poll

Warren Zevon's classic song which describes a werewolf looking for beef chow mein in Soho contains rock music’s greatest opening line, according to a poll.

Werewolves Of London was a minor hit in 1978 for American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

Today the song beat famous tracks by Pink Floyd, Morrissey and the Rolling Stones to the title of Greatest Opening Song Line.

Werewolves Of London opens with the words: “I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand/Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain/He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook’s/Going to get a big dish of beef chow mein.”

Bill Haley and The Comets came second in the BBC Radio 2 poll for the opening line “One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock” from Rock Around The Clock.

Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti, with the opening line “A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom” came third.

The Jimi Hendrix song Hey Joe, with the line “Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?”, came fourth.

The winning song, from a 16-strong shortlist, was announced on today’s Jeremy Vine BBC Radio 2 show after it picked up 10,000 votes from listeners.

Vine said today: “Once you’ve heard the first line of Werewolves Of London you’ll never forget it.

“This is an amazing song from an artist who is very sadly dead now.

“I think it’s won because it takes an image and does something quite extraordinary with it.”

Zevon’s son Jordan accepted the award and said the subject matter may have been fuelled by “a little too much vodka”.