1. My thanks to respondents at the 7th Finnish Musicology Congress in Helsinki, 2004, where this was first presented as a keynote paper, to seminar students at the University of Manchester (February 2005) who helped me focus its trajectory, and to Anwar Ibrahim for comments made on an early version.

2. Simon Frith, "Why do songs have words?" in Music for Pleasure (Cambridge: Polity, 1988).

3. As paraphrased in Richard Middleton, Studying Popular Music (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1990), 28.

4. Philip Tagg, Introductory notes to the semiotics of music (1999), http://www.tagg.org/xpdfs/semiotug.pdf, 38-9, last accessed 19/08/05. Tagg actually writes about "music" rather than "song," but he cites as one identifying characteristic of the "melody" pole of the dualism that it tends to be "singable."

5. California University Press, 1982. Cone's writings on "persona" are beginning to be taken up, at last, by popular music theorists, e.g. Matthew Gelbart, "Persona and Voice in the Kinks' Songs of the Late 1960s," Journal of the Royal Musical Association 128 (2003), 200-41.   

6. Particularly Eric Clarke, "Subject-Position and the Specification of Invariants in music by Frank Zappa and P.J.Harvey," Music Analysis 18 no. 3 (1999), 347-74.

7. Eero Tarasti uses both "subject" and "actor" in his semiotic scheme, tracing the rise of the former in the late eighteenth-century development of periodized melody in instrumental music. Eero Tarasti, A Theory of Musical Semiotics (Indiana University Press, 1994), 104.

8. It is of the nature of my discussion that, for many instances, any sort of representation on the page of the relationship between the sounds I am discussing is inadequate--there is no substitute for hearing them. The footnotes therefore contain complete references for my examples; while some are comparatively superfluous, a sufficient number should be easily traceable to
illuminate my argument. Many are readily available on such web-sites as http://www.allofmp3.com.

9. Sleevenote to Beaver and Krause, Gandharva, Warner 1971 [9 45663-2].

10. See Allan F. Moore, "Categorical conventions in music-discourse: style and genre," Music and Letters 82/3 (2001), 432-42.

11. Patsy Cline, "I'm blue again" (1959), The one and only Patsy Cline, K-Tel 1994 [ECD3086].

12. Analogous textural changes are found, for example, in "Today, Tomorrow and Forever" and "Never No More," to be found on the same album.

13. Martin Carthy, "The dominion of the sword," Right of passage, Topic 1988 [TSCD452].

14. Bob Dylan, "Just like a woman," Blonde on Blonde, CBS 1972 [CDCBS22130].

15. Philip Tagg's semiotic approach identifies as one feature the genre synecdoche, in which an instrument from a "borrowed" genre brings with it expectations of the connotations of its parent genre. That may well be thought to operate here also. http://www.tagg.org/xpdfs/semiotug.pdf.

16. Led Zeppelin, "Thank you" (1969), Led Zeppelin II, Atlantic 1994 (1969) [7567-82663-2].

17. Roy Harper, "When an old cricketer leaves the crease" (1975), HQ, Science Friction 1995 [HUCD019].

18. This might thus be posited as another example of Tagg's category of genre synecdoche.

19. Some styles have a greater degree of stereotypicality than others: Motown; old skool hip-hop; early 1970s Status Quo exemplify this at various levels (those of label roster; sub-culturally delimited style; idiolect).

20. My thanks to Laura Tunbridge for requiring me to clarify this point.

21. La�s, "'T smidje," Laïs, Alea 1998 [WBM21005].

22. Fairport Convention, "Medley: The lark in the morning," Liege and lief, Island 1969 [IMCD60].

23. Iggy Pop, "Whatever," Skull Ring, Virgin 2003 [B0000D9YE7].

24. Joe Cocker, "With a little help from my friends" (1969), With a little help from my friends, A&M 1999 (1969) [490 419-2]. I discuss his singing of this song in greater detail in "The contradictory aesthetics of Woodstock" in Andrew Bennett (ed.), Remembering Woodstock (Ashgate, 2004), 82. The original Beatles track from 1967 is found on The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, EMI 1987 [CDP7 46442-2]. I discuss this further in The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 30-32.

25. John Lennon, "Imagine" (1971), Legend, Parlophone 1997 [7243 8 21954 2 9].

26. This is developed in Keith Negus, Popular Music in Theory (Polity, 1996), 102-6.

27. For instance, Nat King Cole, "When I fall in love" (1957), Let's fall in love, EMI 1990 [7243 4 93283 2 7].

28. Yes, "Heart of the sunrise," Fragile, Atlantic 1972 [7657-82667-2].

29. Janis Joplin: Anthology, CBS, 1980 [COL 467405 9]. See the discussion in Allan F. Moore, Rock: the Primary Text (Ashgate, 2001 edition), 96.

30. Sonny and Cher, "I got you babe" (1965), The best sixties love album...ever!, Universal n.d. [VTDCD235].

31. Diana Ross, "Ain't no mountain high enough" (1970), One woman, EMI 1993 [7243 8 27702 2 0].

32. Cilla Black, "Alfie" (1965), Burt Bacharach and Hal David Songbook, Connoisseur 1988 [VSOP CD 128].

33. Björk, "Army of me," Post, One Little Indian, 1995 [TPLP51CD].

34. See Allan F. Moore, "Analizzare il rock: strumenti e finalità," Music realtà 62 (July 2000), 95-118.

35. Beach Boys, "God only knows" (1966), Pet Sounds, Capitol 1990 [CD FA 3298].

36. Whippersnapper, "John Gaudie," Promises, WPS 1985 [WPSCD001].

37. Traffic, "Hole in my shoe" (1968), The collection, Spectrum 2001 [544 558 2].

38. See Sheila Whiteley, The space between the notes (Routledge, 1992).

39. Slade, "Coz I luv you" (1971), Greatest Hits, 1999 [537 105-2]. Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe" (1966), The best of Jimi Hendrix, MCA 2000 [112 383-2]. See also Rock: the Primary Text, 56.

40. Richard Thompson, "The way that it shows," Mirror blue, Capitol 1994 [0777 7 81492 2 4].

41. Beach Boys, "Good vibrations" (1966), Beach Boys Greatest Hits, EMI 1998 [7243 4 95696 2 1].

42. Deep Purple, "Child in Time" (1970), Deep Purple in Rock, EMI 1995 [7243 8 34019 2 5].

43. See Alf Björnberg, "On Aeolian Harmony in Contemporary Popular Music," APSM-Norden, 1989 and Allan F. Moore, "Patterns of harmony," Popular Music 11/1 (1992), 73-106. Björnberg cites alienation, and fear of it, as a key associative quality of the Aeolian mode in rock.

44. Coverdale Page, "Take me for a little while," Coverdale Page, EMI 1993 [CDEMD1041].

45. The Darkness, "Holding my own," Permission to Land, Atlantic 2003 [5050466-7452-2-4].

46. Rolling Stones, "Satisfaction" (1965), Hot Rocks 1964-1971, Abcko 1986 [844 475-2].

47. Vanessa Carlton, "Ordinary Day," Be not nobody, A&M 2002 [493 367-2]. Note that the album contains a cover of "Paint it black."

48. Polly Jean Harvey & John Parish, "Taut," Dance Hall at Louse Point, Island 1996 [CID 8051/524 278-2].

49. Clarke, "Subject-Position," 371.

50. Tri Yann, "Je m'en vas," Le P�legrin, Marzelle 2001 [EPC 501632 2].

51. e.g. Dubliners, "The leaving of Liverpool," Best of the Dubliners, Kaz 1996 [PDS CD 535].

52. Lorraine Ellison, "Stay with me baby" (1966), The best sixties love album...ever!, Universal n.d. [VTDCD235]. Bette Midler, "Stay with me baby," Divine madness, Atlantic 1980 [16022-2].

53. Simon Frith, Sound effects (London: Constable, 1983), 35.

54. Beach Boys, "Surfin' USA" (1961), The Beach Boys Greatest Hits, EMI 1998 [7243 4 95696 2 1].

55. Chuck Berry, "Sweet little sixteen" (1958), The Best of Chuck Berry, Music Club 1991 [MCCD 019]. Many other examples of the same process exist.

56. Philip Tagg: Fernando the Flute, IPM, 1991.

57. Andy Stewart, "Donald, where's your troosers?" (1960), 20 Scottish Favourites, EMI 2001 [7243 5 32965 2 0].

58. Boomtown Rats, "I never loved Eva Braun" (1978), Tonic for the troops, Phonogram 1992 [514053-2].

59. Peter Gabriel's "Intruder" provides a similar example of this device. Peter Gabriel III, Virgin 1980 [PGCD3].

60. Sex Pistols, "Holidays in the Sun," Never mind the bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols, Virgin 1977 [CDVX2086].

61. See Rock: the primary text, 130-1.

62. Bachelors, "He ain't heavy," The very best of the Bachelors, Prism 1998 [PLATCD293].

63. Grandaddy, "Hewlett's daughter," The sophtware slump, V2 2000 [WR1012252].

64. Nicholas Cook, Analysing Musical Multimedia (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998), 99.

65. Jethro Tull, "Fylingdale Flyer," A, Chrysalis 1980 [CDP 32 1301 2].

66. E.g. "Sympathy for the devil," Beggar's Banquet, ABKCO 2002 (1968) [8823012].

67. King Crimson, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One," Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Virgin 1970 [EGCD 7].

68. The chorus to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), for example. The Best of Chuck Berry, op.cit.

69. Wishbone Ash, "Throw down the sword" (1972), Argus, MCA 2002 [088 112 816-2].

70. Carpenters, "Goodbye to love" (1972), A song for you, A&M 1990 [CARCD4].

71. Kevin J. Holm-Hudson, "Your Guitar, It Sounds So Sweet and Clear: Semiosis in Two Versions of 'Superstar'," Music Theory Online http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.02.8.4/mto.02.8.4.holm-hudson_frames.html, last accessed on 14/1/05.

72. Lindisfarne, "Good to be here" (1979), The news, Castle 1999 [ESMCD812].

73. See Rock: the Primary Text, 113. Other examples include the Strawbs, "New world" (1972), Van der Graaf, "Lemmings" (1971), King Crimson, "Epitaph" (1969), and the Beatles, "A day in the life" (1967).

End of footnotes