This paper investigates the role of tropes in constructing male and female characters in country and western lyrics. Through the categorization of metaphors of love, relationships, males, and females, it examines the way gender and gender roles are approached in a commercial genre. In romantic relationships, the songs portray men as restless and women as responsible. The paper questions these primarily male-produced, predetermined, genre-dictated and clichéd, yet manifold or even ironic positions the fictive men and women have, discusses the contradictory gender ideologies, and ponders on the social role ideals among modern American audiences. (LLBA 2003, vol. 37, n. 2)