This week for Song Lyric Sunday, Jim is looking for a song with a great intro. Well, I can think of lots of those – which of course is the whole point. However, I’ve already posted many of them in response to other SLS challenges: to name a few, there’s ‘ Dazed and Confused’, ‘Pretty Vacant’ and ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’.

Pretty much any Beatles single could also suit the brief; indeed, I well remember having an earnest discussion with a couple of university friends about the sheer brilliance of Ringo’s soft drum roll at the beginning of’ ‘She Loves You’. Although we were probably about four pints of Guinness in by then.

However, my selection is an instantly recognisable intro by David Bowie from 1972 that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go:

A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers
And ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking ’bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York’s a go-go and everything tastes nice
Poor little Greenie
Woo-hoo

The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
(The Jean Genie) he’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls
The Jean Genie, let yourself go, oh

Sits like a man, but he smiles like a reptile
She loves him, she loves him, but just for a short while
She’ll scratch in the sand, won’t let go his hand
He says he’s a beautician and sells you nutrition
And keeps all your dead hair for making up underwear
Poor little Greenie

He’s so simple minded, he can’t drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in the capsule
Loves to be loved
Loves to be loved

Written by David Bowie

Song Lyric Sunday 8 March 2026