Reply #14: Two great opening stanzas

[fishwax]

The rest of both songs are good, too, but the opening verses of these two have long been favorites ...

Someone's got it in for me,
they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick
but when they will I can only guess.
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.
I can't help it if I'm lucky.

... and ...

Ain't it just like the night
to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded,
though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind