ABSTRACT Toby Keith’s number one hit “American Soldier” (2003) initiated a decade-long exploration of soldier-related topics by country music songwriters and singers, including forty-two tracks recorded between 2003 and 2014. Twenty-five records in this corpus were released as singles for radio play, with almost one-third of these reaching the top three positions on various country charts. Shared musical traits among the forty-two include a moderate tempo and a spare texture foregrounding the singer. The lyrics consistently feature soldiers, their families, and friends speaking in first person “I” voices. The implied “you” addressed by these “I” voices delimits the expressive scope of the corpus, at times hailing listeners beyond the country music audience, but primarily reaching out to the closest family and friend relations, with the resulting dialogue among intimates overheard by the sympathetic listener. Released mostly during the United States’ invasion of Iraq and at the height of American soldier deaths in that conflict, country soldier songs only rarely engage with the fraught domestic politics of the war. Across the corpus of tracts, the celebration of victory proves out of reach. This body of melodramatic and mournful meditations on an ongoing and difficult war presents individuals and families dealing privately—in neoliberal fashion—with their grief.

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“我是美国士兵”：乡村音乐在 9/11 之后为军人和家庭发声

摘要 Toby Keith 的热门歌曲“美国士兵”（2003 年）开启了乡村音乐词曲作者和歌手对士兵相关主题的长达十年的探索，其中包括 2003 年至 2014 年间录制的 42 首曲目。该语料库中的 25 条唱片是作为电台播放的单曲发行，其中近三分之一达到了各种国家排行榜的前三名。四十二人之间的共同音乐特征包括适中的节奏和使歌手脱颖而出的备用质感。歌词始终以士兵、他们的家人和朋友用第一人称“我”的声音说话。这些“我”的声音所指向的隐含的“你”划定了语料库的表达范围，有时会向乡村音乐听众以外的听众欢呼，但主要是接触最亲密的家人和朋友，有同情心的听众无意中听到了密友之间的对话。主要在美国入侵伊拉克期间以及在那场冲突中美军士兵死亡人数最多的时候发行，乡村士兵歌曲很少涉及战争中令人担忧的国内政治。在大量的传单中，胜利的庆祝是遥不可及的。这一系列对正在进行的艰难战争的戏剧性和悲哀的沉思呈现出个人和家庭以新自由主义的方式私下处理他们的悲伤。庆祝胜利证明遥不可及。这一系列对正在进行的艰难战争的戏剧性和悲哀的沉思呈现出个人和家庭以新自由主义的方式私下处理他们的悲伤。庆祝胜利证明遥不可及。这一系列对正在进行的艰难战争的戏剧性和悲哀的沉思呈现出个人和家庭以新自由主义的方式私下处理他们的悲伤。