ABSTRACT
American popular songs are frequently written in the mode of direct address, of intimate conversation, in which the speaker and the person spoken to are identified as “I” and “you.” In some the “I” is identified as masculine or feminine, while in others no clues to the sex of the speaker are given, and the same verses could be used by either sex in addressing the other. The relationships described or implied in the lyrics are those of dating and courtship. Some merely express an attitude or sentiment of the speaker toward the one addressed. More often the content is an appeal, request, demand, complaint, or reproach, soliciting response, as though the songs were fragments of dialogue. Musical comedies, motion pictures, and television programs such as Your Hit Parade regularly dramatize them as intimate conversations between lovers.
