"... And then the murders began."

[Róisín]

I liked your take on ‘Hotel California’. It would sing well.

[Yastreb]

As the morning sun canted sharply through the bedroom window, Charles Friedman dropped the baton. And then the murders began.
Andrew Gross, The Dark Tide

The elimination of Gussie Pingree's virginity took place on a horse blanket in the old harness room. And then the murders began.
Gordon Williams, Pomeroy

[thegreyarea]

The rain outside was cold in Hadrian's soul.

The boy lay dead
On the low couch, on whose denuded whole,
To Hadrian's eyes, whose sorrow was a dread,
The shadowy light of Death's eclipse was shed.

And then the murders began.

Fernando Pessoa*, Antinous

(*Pessoa is the most known Portuguese poet. He spent some years of his youth on South Africa, and this poem is originally written in English, which is just fine in this situation, because translating poetry is quite complicated.)

(And thanks, Róisín! Yes, it sings well! That's why I coudn't resist...)

[thegreyarea]

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landside,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to
Me, to me

And the murders began

Mamaaa,
Just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger,
Now he's dead
...

Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody

(this one is quite right )

[Jitter]

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. And then the murders begin..

(Eye of the World, Book one of Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, or, possibly, every book of the series)

[thegreyarea]

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn. And then the murders began.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

(No, we are not related   )

[Yastreb]

I thought I'd try the opening lines of some of my own stories, just because...

For what seemed like the hundredth time Steven Pope read over his findings, and set his teeth with a frustrated sigh. And then the murders began.
The Enemy

It had no name and no identity, but it had a purpose. And then the murders began.
Lifekiller

The roadhouse was nearly empty. And then the murders began.
The Value of Pie

Alik-Jay eased himself slowly into place and activated his field-glasses to spycam mode. And then the murders began.
White Death

[thegreyarea]

Sometimes I get the feelin'
I was back in the old days, long ago
When we were kids when we were young
Things seemed so perfect - you know
And then the murders began

Queen, These Are the Days of Our Lives

(Yastreb, I must thank you for all these murders! This thread is so fun!)

[Yastreb]

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licóur
Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye,
So priketh hem Natúre in hir corages,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
And then the murderes beginne
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

[thegreyarea]

The Murders Began

Spoiler: show

[Verse 1]
I pictured a rainbow
You held it in your hands
I had flashes
But you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years
While you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
And the murders began
The murders began

[Chorus 1]
You were there in the turnstiles
With the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far too soon
And the murders began

[Verse 3]
I was grounded
While you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
You cut through lies
I saw the rain dirty valley
You saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent
And the murders began

[Verse 4]
I spoke about wings
You just flew
I wondered I guessed and I tried
You just knew
I sighed
But you swooned
I saw the crescent
And the murders began
The murders began

[Chorus 2]
With a torch in your pocket
And the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder
And you know how it feels
To get too high
Too far too soon
And the murders began
The murders began

[Bridge]
Unicorns and cannonballs
Palaces and piers
Trumpets towers and tenements
Wide oceans full of tears
Flags rags ferryboats
Scimitars and scarves
Every precious dream and vision
Underneath the stars

[Chorus 3]
You climbed on the ladder
With the wind in your sails
You came like a comet
Blazing your trail
Too high too far too soon
And the murders began

The Waterboys, The Whole of the Moon (adapted murdered)

(I love this song! So much that I fell guilt for murdering it! And here's a link to the original)

[thegreyarea]

… That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And then the murders began

R.E.M., It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine)


Traveling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And the murder began

Men at Work, Down Under

(BTW, Yastreb, that adaptation of the Canterbury Tales is great! )

[thegreyarea]

The Murders Began

Spoiler: show

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And the murders began

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words, I don't just say
And the murders began

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And the murders began

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

So close, no matter how far
It couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And the murders began

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words, I don't just say
And the murders began

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And the murders began

Never cared for what they say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know, yeah, yeah

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And the murders began

Metallica, Nothing Else Matters

(Another murdered song... I blame Yastreb   )

[Buteo]

In the Summer of 1875 I was graduated with the degree of A.B. from the University of Vermont. In the Autumn of the same year I began the study of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. And then the murders began.

--Memoirs Of A Small-Town Surgeon, John Brooks Wheeler (1935)

[Lee M]

On a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my Father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved. And then the murders began.

Dava Sobel, Longitude

PS I thoroughly recommend the miniseries based on this book.

[Yastreb]

This much we know; that on a bright spring morning in 1843, Madame Carl Rouff left her timber-framed house in Lafayette to travel across New Orleans to visit a friend who lived in the Fauborg Marigny. And then the murders began.
John Baily, The Lost German Slave Girl

"We seal ourselves forthwith into this place of learning. Death is banished forever. I direct that the Tabernacle erase from us all memories of its construction, so that we may never destroy it if we ever crave for death. Here man and the sum of his knowledge will never die, but go forward to perfection."
And then the murders began.
John Boorman and Bill Stair, Zardoz