FIGURATIVE LANGUAGES USED IN THE BEATLES’ SONG LYRICS COMPOSED BY TWO DIFFERENT SONG WRITERS (JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY)
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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGES USED IN THE BEATLES’ SONG LYRICS
COMPOSED BY TWO DIFFERENT SONG WRITERS
(JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY) by:
I DEWA MADE SADHU ADIWIRYAWAN
English department, Faculty of Letters, Udayana University
Abstrak:
Judul dari penelitian ini adalah “Figurative Languages Used in the Beatles’ Song Lyrics Composed by Two Different Song Writers (John Lennon and Paul McCartney)”. Sumber data yang digunakan dalam penelitian adalah tiga lirik lagu dari John Lennon dan tiga lirik lagu dari Paul McCartney; “Instant Karma”, “I am the Walrus”, “Across the Universe”, “She’s a Woman”, “Hey Jude”, dan “Honey Pie”. Penelitian menggunakan metode dokumentasi dalam mengumpulkan data, serta metode kualitatif dan kuantitatif dalam menganalisa dan menyajikan hasil analisis. Teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian diambil dari Knickerbocker dan Reninger (1967).Hasil dari analisis menunjukkan perbandingan dan perbedaan tema lirik lagu dari kedua penulis lagu dipengaruhi oleh jenis dan jumlah kata kiasan yang dipakai oleh masing-masing penulis.
Kata kunci: Kiasan, lirik, tema
1.Background
Figurative languages is a language device which has special characteristics that usually used by people to express their feeling and thought. Many authors use this kind of language style for transferring their impression about something in their literary works to give special effects and unique understanding in every sentence of their works. Generally, figurative languages is divided into several kinds. Each kind has a special characteristic in beautify the meaning of certain work. Figurative languages can be found in most writing such as dramas, poetries, and the common writing is song lyrics.
Nowadays, song has been a part of lifestyle. Song is a short musical composition which is sung by human voice, and has certain lyric. Lyric is a set of words that make up a song (www.answers.com). The meaning of a lyric can either be explicit or implicit. Some of lyrics are composed in poetical composition which makes it similar with poetries that there are many words written using figurative languages. Most of song writers express their ideas of reality, social life
in their point of view, and their experiences through their own imaginative and intense perception of their own world. No doubt, writers’ purpose is to makes a good response from the listeners. The more listeners explore the hidden meaning of certain song lyric, the more listeners will understand about the writer’s feeling which conveys behind the meaning of the lyric.
The study focused on the use of figurative languages in The Beatles’ song lyrics which composed by two different person; John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as the members of the band itself. John Lennon was known as a controversial song writer. Some of his songs were considered as the expression of atheism, antireligion, or causing bad impact to the people at the time. His songs regularly contain multiple meaning which hard to understand. While Paul McCartney known as a famous one. He is listed in Guinness World records as the most successful musician and song writer in popular music history. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had crowned as the best couple of song writer in music history by Rolling Stone magazine.
The study focused on the differences between the use of figurative languages in the song lyrics composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The aim of the study is to identify and analyze the differences between the use of figurative languages composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It is also aimed to make the reader to understand about the songs which written using figurative languages that are contain hidden meanings which conveyed by the writers.
The data used in the study were taken from six songs as the data sources; they are I am the Walrus, Across the Universe and Instant Karma written by John Lennon; Hey Jude, Honey Pie, and She’s a Woman written by Paul McCartney. The data collected from an internet website www.iamthebeatles.com. The songs and lyrics printed out, and the next step was listening to the songs, and read the lyric carefully, repeatedly, intensively. Note taking and coding also conducted while the process of collecting the data. The techniques used in analyzing the data
were both qualitative and quantitative method. The results of the analysis were presented descriptively. The comparison of figurative languages use found in the songs were tabulated, and followed by descriptions and explanation.
The analyses were divided into two main points: figurative languages in John Lennon’s three songs and figurative languages in Paul McCartney’ s three
songs. The results can be seen on the following tables:
Table 1
|
DATA 1 INSTANT KARMA | |
|
Sentence |
Type |
|
Instant karma’s gonna get you |
Personification |
|
Gonna knock you right in the head |
Personification |
|
Laughing in the face of love |
Personification |
|
Gonna get you right in the face |
Personification |
|
Join the human race |
Irony |
|
And we all shine on like the moon and the stars and the sun |
Simile |
|
We all shine on |
Hyperbole |
|
Gonna knock you off your feet |
Personification |
|
Surely not to live in pain and fear |
Dead metaphor |
Table 1: figurative languages found in “Instant Karma” lyric composed by John Lennon
There were nine sentences contain figurative languages found in the lyric, and the mostly appeared was personification (nine times). The use of figurative language in the song revealed that the theme used by the writer in the song is
nature and religion theme.
Table 2
|
DATA 2 I AM THE WALRUS | |
|
Sentence |
Type |
|
I am he as you are he as you are me |
Simile |
|
See how they run like pigs from a gun |
Simile |
|
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday |
Hyperbole |
|
You let your face grow long |
Metonymy |
|
I am the eggman |
Metaphor |
|
They are the eggmen |
Metaphor |
|
I am the walrus, goo goog’joob |
Metaphor |
|
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky |
Irony |
|
Crabaloocker fishwife, pornographic priestess |
Irony |
|
Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl |
Paradox |
|
If the sun don’t come you get a tan from standing in the English rain |
Irony |
|
See how they smile like pigs in a sty |
Simile |
|
Climbing up the Eiffel tower |
Allusion |
|
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna |
Personification |
|
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe |
Allusion |
Table 2: Figurative languages found in “I am the Walrus” lyric composed by John Lennon
There were 15 figurative languages used found in the lyric. Simile, metaphor, and irony were in the same number of appearances in the lyric (three times). The theme that John Lennon conveys in the song is about freedom and
social critics.
Table 3
|
DATA 3 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE | |
|
Sentence |
Type |
|
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a papercup |
Simile |
|
They slither while they pass they slip away |
Personification |
|
Across the universe |
Hyperbole |
|
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy a drifting through my open mind |
Personification |
|
Possessing and caressing me |
Personification |
|
Nothing’s gonna change my world |
Metonymy |
|
Images of broken lights which dance before me like a million eyes |
Simile |
|
They calls me on and on |
Personification |
|
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box |
Simile |
|
The tumble blindly as they make their way |
Personification |
|
Sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing through my open views |
Irony |
|
Inciting and inviting me |
Personification |
Table 3: Figurative languages found in “Across the Universe” lyric composed by
John Lennon.
There were 12 sentences found which considered as figurative languages in the lyric. Personification was the most kind of figurative languages found in the lyric (six times). According to the use of figurative languages, it can conclude that the lyric brings the theme of nature and feeling.
Table 4
|
DATA 4 SHE’S A WOMAN | |
|
Sentence |
Type |
|
My love don’t give me presents |
Personification |
|
Love forever and forever |
Hyperbole |
|
Turn me on when I get lonely |
Metonymy |
|
She don’t give the boys the eye |
Metonymy |
|
That I will never leave her |
Hyperbole |
|
Gives me all her time as well as loving |
Hyperbole |
Table 4: Figurative languages found in “She’s a Woman” lyric composed by Paul
McCartney.
There were six figurative languages found in the song lyric, and the mostly appeared was hyperbole (three times). Love and exaggeration is the theme that the
writer conveys in the lyric.
Table 5
|
DATA 5 HEY JUDE | |
|
Sentence |
Type |
|
Remember to let her into your heart |
Metonymy |
|
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulder |
Hyperbole |
|
By making this world a little colder |
Hyperbole |
|
The movement you need is on your shoulder |
Metonymy |
Table 5: Figurative languages found in “Hey Jude” lyric composed by Paul
McCartney
There were four figurative language found in the lyric. Hyperbole and Metonymy were the only kinds found in it. The lyric’s theme is about a spirit,
love and friendship.
Table 6
|
DATA 6 HONEY PIE | |
|
Sentence |
Stanza |
|
North of England way |
Allusion |
|
Now she’s hit the big time in the USA |
Hyperbole |
|
Honey pie you are making me crazy |
Metaphor |
|
Come and show me the magic of your Hollywood song |
Allusion |
|
You became a legend of the silver screen |
Synecdoche |
|
Oh honey pie you are driving me frantic |
Hyperbole |
|
Sail across the Atlantic to be where you belong |
Allusion |
|
Kindly send her sailing back to me |
personification |
Table 6: Figurative languages found in “Honey Pie” lyric composed by Paul
McCartney
There were eight figurative languages found in the lyric. Allusion was the mostly found in the lyric. The lyric brings the theme of love, obsession, and feeling.
Table 7
|
No. |
Type of Figurative Languages |
John Lennon |
Paul McCartney |
|
1 |
Simile |
7 |
0 |
|
2 |
Metaphor |
3 |
1 |
|
3 |
Personification |
12 |
2 |
|
4 |
Synecdoche |
0 |
1 |
|
5 |
Metonymy |
2 |
4 |
|
6 |
Hyperbole |
3 |
7 |
|
7 |
Irony |
5 |
0 |
|
8 |
Dead Metaphor |
1` |
0 |
|
9 |
Allusion |
2 |
3 |
|
10 |
Paradox |
1 |
0 |
|
Total |
36 |
18 | |
Table 7: total amount of figurative languages found in three songs of John Lennon and three songs of Paul McCartney
Table 7 shows that John Lennon wrote the lyric b using figurative languages much more that Paul McCartney did. This can be used as a basic of other comparisons. John Lennon uses figurative languages in his lyrics to cover it by poetical senses, while Paul McCartney uses figurative languages in his lyrics to make a beautiful sense; the lyric composed by Paul McCartney are more conceptual and easy to be understood by listeners. The differences lead us to see that the songs of Paul McCartney are mostly famous among the people until today; while John Lennon’s songs are not as famous as Paul McCartney’s because his songs quite strange, hard to understood, and contradictive.
The use of figurative languages in their songs also gives contribution in their way to build the themes. As we can see from the table 7, personification is the most used by John Lennon in the songs to represents nature and religious themes. The lyrics become poetically stated and quite hard to be understood. Paul McCartney, on the other hand, brings the theme of love and friendship in his
songs by conveys hyperbole as the most used in the songs. As we know, to present the feeling of love there should be some exaggerated statement and expression.
From the analysis and the discussion, we can conclude that there are nine kinds of figurative language which John Lennon used to express his feeling in the song lyrics; they are simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, metonymy, irony, dead metaphor, allusion, and paradox. There are total 36 figurative languages found in three lyrics of John Lennon. Besides that, there are six kinds of figurative language and total 18 figurative languages used by Paul McCartney in three of his song lyrics. The analyses were based on the theory of figurative language proposed by Knickerbocker and Reninger (1967) and other theory supported with.
After conducting a comparison analysis, there are some differences between the song lyrics composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the use of figurative language. The total amount of figurative language used by John Lennon is 41 in three songs, much more than the figurative language used by Paul McCartney which totaled 19 in three songs. That makes the songs composed by Paul McCartney are more easily understood by people than the songs made by John Lennon; that is why songs composed by John Lennon are not as famous as Paul McCartney’s. There are some facts which used to strengthening the statement. Difference also seen from the themes they used; John Lennon took a nature and religious themes which shown by the use of personification that mostly appear in his songs, while Paul McCartney took a love and daily life theme which shown by the use of hyperbole that mostly appear in the songs.
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