IDIOMS AND THEIR MEANINGS IN THE BEATLES SONGS’ LYRICS

Abstract

The study entitled “Idioms and their meanings in The Beatles songs’ lyrics” focused on 2 aspects:
(1) the types of idiom occurred in the song lyrics, and (2) how meanings of idioms convey the theme of the
songs.
The primary data was taken from the song’s lyrics on Famous song of the Beatles, written by
John Lennon and Paul McCartney as data source. The data was collected by using documentation
method by applying note taking technique. Thus, the data were also checked with source which provides
the information and list of English idioms.
In the analysis, the types of idioms were presented first. The main theories used in the analysis of
the data consist of the types of idioms proposed by Palmer (1976). The analysis of meaning comes
afterward in order to categorized the types of meaning of idioms occurred in data source. The theory of
meaning comes from Leech (1974).
Based on the result of analysis it was found that the three idioms are found in the song. The
meaning of idiom had a strong relation with the meaning of the song, as the consequences the meaning of
idiom should be analyze of first to find the theme and the message of the song. Discover the types of
idioms. They are phrasal verbs, prepositional verb, and partial idiom. Obtain also meaning each idiom of
songs. Each song has different meaning.