ABSTRACT
Throughout the twentieth century, courtship themes have dominated American lyrics. Love songs depict consistent behavioral patterns. Boy meets girl; a special relationship develops; love blooms; sexuality is explored; tensions are noted; rejection occurs; loneliness is felt; and (in a repetition of the pattern) boy meets another girl. Human interaction is never neat. Highly emotional personal involvements are not only less than neat, they are extremely volatile and likely to produce peaks of joy and valleys of depression. It would take not only a single chapter, but an entire book to illustrate accurately the variety of personal relationship themes that exist within the lyrics of popular songs during the past 35 years. The following pages examine selected hit recordings that depict the complex nature of male-female interaction.
