Your favorite song lead-in

True dat.

And Monkey Man, same group.

 

Can't believe I forgot "Won't Get Fooled Again," which has got to be my favorite.

 

Bless you, my son.

When it comes to song lead-ins, that pretty much begins and ends this thread for me.

 

"Anything" by Dramarama

It's one of my ringtones.

 

It is indeed the gold standard. Mellencamp has a few good lead-ins:

--When the Walls Come Tumblin' Down
--Play Guitar
--Paper in Fire
--Pink Houses

 

A few of my favorites that haven't been mentioned:

Casey Jones/Grateful Dead ("drivin' that train, high on cocaine")
96 Tears/? and the Mysterians (cheesy organ intro is classic 60s)
Solid Rock/Dire Straits (this should be the Knopfler primer)
Back In the USSR/Beatles ("flew into Miami Beach BOAC...")
Machine Gun/Hendrix (supposedly this was Jimi flipping Bill Graham the bird)
Soul Survivor/Stones (best song from their best album)
Pictures of Lily/Who ("...made my life so wonderful")
The End/Doors (there's a reason this was the intro to Apocalypse Now)
Goin' to Mexico/Steve Miller (one of the few spoken intros that works)
Soul to Soul/Stevie Ray Vaughan (all hail the wa-wa pedal)
It's My Life/The Animals (Eric Burdon never did anything better)
Whippen Post/Allman Brothers ("Berry Oakley starts it out")
Dazed and Confused/Led Zeppelin (JP Jones' finest moment)
Roll Over Beethoven/ELO (gotta love a song that opens w/the Fifth)

 

Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" always hits the spot.

 

Good Springsteen lead-ins
--Jungleland
--Born to Run
--Glory Days
--Prove It All Night

Good bubblegum lead-ins
--I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight, Boyce and Hart
--Bend Me, Shape Me, American Breed
--Magic, Pilot
--Beach Baby, First Class

 

Oh, yeah.

"Crazy On You," Heart.

EDIT: I see Faithless got it. Still worthy of repeating.

 

Recent cut

Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye

Soon as I hear the intro I get hyped.

 

"Surrender" - Cheap Trick
"10 A.M. Automatic" - The Black Keys
"Say It Ain't So" - Weezer
"Town Called Malice" - The Jam
"Message In A Bottle" - The Police
"The Modern Age" - The Strokes
"Stinkfist" - Tool
"Just A Girl" - No Doubt
"The Boys Are Back In Town" - Thin Lizzy
"American Girl" - Tom Petty
"Vasoline" - Stone Temple Pilots
"Debaser" - The Pixies
"Song 2" - Blur
"Another One Bites The Dust" - Queen
"No Surprises" - Radiohead
"Killing In The Name" - Rage Against The Machine
"Fluorescent Adolescent" - Arctic Monkey
"And Your Bird Can Sing" - The Beatles
"The Stranger" - Billy Joel

 

Just a few of the ones floating around my head recently:

Led Zeppelin - No Quarter. It does go on for almost a minute with a quiet organ, but when it breaks into the heavy guitar it really rocks.
Joni Mitchell - Down to You. Like the above song, very quiet at the beginning. But it doesn't matter if I come home all tensed up, how edgy I am, it slows me right down. The lovely, moody beginning to a lovely, moody song.
Alanis Morisette - All I Really Want. Great opening chord to a kicking song. Likewise, Jethro Tull's Aqualung has a strong, short lead-in.
The Meters - Cissy Strut. Aside from the brief ascending voice, the lead-in isn't all that different than the actual song. Of course, it gives you the impression you could boogie on the riff all day...which is the point of the thing.
A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It. Great sample of Lou Reed, very chill.
Sneaking Sally Through the Alley - Robert Palmer. Groovy track starts up from the get-go, and there's so much heavy funk from the start it's hard to decipher at all. Whatever, it makes you want to dance.