Backward messages in music
(commonly known as Backward Masking) have been a controversy ever since the late 60s, when messages
were found backwards on some Beatles' albums that hinted Paul
McCartney had died. The controversy raged extensively in the
late 70s and early 80s when religious fundamentalists claimed
that Satan possessed the minds of singers, causing them to
insert messages backwards into albums. As we now know, many of
these backward messages were in fact examples of Reverse Speech
in music. Speech reversals occur naturally in all forms of
speech, sung or spoken. This site lists some examples of Reverse
Speech in music.
Backward Masking: First of all, some examples of Backward
Masking - a recording studio technique where backward messages
are deliberately superimposed on the soundtrack. They can be
recognised as gibberish forwards - not to be confused with
Reverse Speech which is the natural occurrence of backward
messages. The term Backward Masking has been mistakenly given to
all forms of backward messages in music whereas in fact there
are 2 types - (1) Backward Masking, which is the deliberate
insertion of backward messages (2) Reverse Speech, the naturally
occurring form of backwards messages, or phonetic reversals.
The
Paul is Dead controversy (with audio comment)
The
Beatle's song "Help" contains an
interesting backward message. This song was
recorded at around the time the Beatles began to
experiment with drugs. The reversal says. "Now
he uses marijuana." There is no superimposed soundtrack
and the chorus also sings marijuana in the background -
Download mp3 file
John Lennon - How
do you sleep - Hey, poor Lindy. So mean, gets him nowhere
- Download mp3 file
Here is a
reversal on Credence Clearwater Revival found by
RS hobbyist, Tony Feo. It says, "I believe in my cool
woman." Download mp3 file
Another
Credence reversal, "Hear woman, hear woman, I will keep on the
path." -
Download mp3 file
Ringo
Starr - Honey Dont - My God is so stubborn -
Download mp3 file
George Harrison:
While my guitar gently weeps - Pass the gun now. It kills the
love, the love is cold -
Download mp3
Paul McCartney: Band
On The Run - Marijuana, marijuana. The law, law will banish
us (Ironically Paul McCartney was banished from entering
Japan again after an ounce of marijuana was found in his luggage
in the late 70s - several years after this song was recorded) -
Download mp3 file
Cheap Trick - "Gonna
Raise Hell" - Satan holds the keys to the lock -
Download mp3 file
Deep Purple - Black
Knight - Oh demon thats leading from hell, we believe -
Download mp3 file
This is an interesting little jingle put out by
the BBC in the early 20s when radio was first
introduced. Some people thought back then that
radio was satanic and you could get possessed by
listening to it. Sound familiar? The speech
reversal says, "This is not a noose. No,
its really not." Or, radio won't hurt
you." Download mp3
The
Carpenters: "That's not the way and
video sends the message" -
Download mp3 file
Frank Zappa: Nanook Rubs It. The reversal says: There's
no-one except the sheik that remembered we had
the mumps - Download mp3 file
George
Harrison - Here comes the sun - He needs this mystery gal
- Download mp3 file
The
following example comes from the rock opera,
Jesus Christ Superstar. The reversal says, "He's
the saviour, loves me, he's the one." -
Download mp3 file
Melissa Etheridge
-
Its the end for me. Can't leave me -
Download mp3 file
Shades of Chaos - Warthorn - And I give my soul for you and
this is our result -
Download mp3 file
Several years ago, the rock group, Judas Priest,
were sued because their records supposedly
contained backward messages. Here is one of the
reversals. The forward, played first, says "Beyond
the Realms Of Death". The speech reversal is
clearer than the forwards and it says: I took
my life. - Download mp3 file
Another One Bites The Dust by Queen. This song is
well known is Backmasking circles. It contains
two naturally occurring speech reversals that
say, "Decide to smoke marijuana,"
and "Give some acid." However,
some people say the reversal says, "Its
fun to smoke marijuana." What do you think? -
Download mp3 file
Britney
Spears - From her first song, "One more time" - Ah, see me. I'm not too young -
some people hear this reversal as "Sleep with me, I'm not too
young" -
Download mp3 file (A recent
analysis of this song by the 2004 Adelaide RS training class
concluded that the phrase actually says "Slee me" with no "p"
and as such should not be documented, only "I'm not too young")
(Jerrys Comments on these
reversals: For those not familiar with the story of the "Rueben
James", this is the official Naval account of the ship. In March
1941, REUBEN JAMES joined the convoy escort force established to
promote the safe arrival of war material to Britain. This escort
force guarded convoys as far as Iceland, where they became
responsibility of British escorts. Based at Hvalfjordur,
Iceland, she sailed from Argentina, Newfoundland, 23 October
1941, with four other destroyers to escort eastbound convoy
HX-156. The ship had postured herself between an ammunition ship
in the convoy and the known position of a German U-Boat Wolfpack.
While escorting that convoy at about 0525, 31 October 1941,
REUBEN JAMES was torpedoed by German submarine U-562. Her
magazine exploded and the ship sank quickly. REUBEN JAMES was
the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II.
Only 44 men of the 144 man crew survived.)
Mary
Poppins soundtrack - Drinking all night long -
Download mp3 file
Popeye
Theme Song - Give me a fuck. Give me a fuck now -
Download mp3 file
The Eagles
- Hotel California - A well known example - Yeah Satan (gibb)
organised his own religion -
Download mp3 file
Found by RS Student
Tim Cham "You're a rock star": "Now
worship it because I'm a (gibb) pioneer" -
Download mp3 file
Found by RS
Student Tim Cham Music "Only a shooting star"
Woman give party - Download mp3
file
Here is one from Styx
that was allegedly said to say backwards, "Satan,
move in our voice." This piece was used
extensively by the fundamentalist Christians in their argument
that back masking was the work of the devil -
Download mp3 file
From RS
Student, Joan Allen - Abba: Bring me one.
Give me one - Download mp3 file
Found by RS
student, Jeff Taft on the song "Thinking of
you" by Lenny Kravitz - Still
missing mom. We'll be missing you -
Download mp3 file
Sent in by
Brian Jones From "We will rock you" by
Queen - Bring us here to put on ash -
Download mp3 file
Cool
Reversal! Found by RS hobbyist Matt Miller. From
the song Chevy Van by Sammy Johns - "High
school was more than I really....needed" -
Download mp3 file
Many celebrities have already gone through alcohol and drug rehab programs, with some of them working out, and some of them suffering a relapse as soon as they check out.
Stairway to
Heaven
If
there was a top 40 of backmasked songs, then
"Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin
would be at the top. This song contains many
backward messages. Here is one of them that
occurs right at the very end of the song.. It
says: "Play backwards. Hear words sung." -
Download mp3 file
However, by far the most controversial backward
messages on the song can be found in the
following soundtrack. They say backwards: "Its
my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would
make me sad whose power is fake (indeterminate
gibberish - some people claim this says, He gives you 666) There was a little toolshed where
he made us suffer, sad Satan." -
Download mp3 file
A complete
analysis of the reversals in this song and their
meanings can be found in this extract:
Stairway to
Where? from the
book, "Reverse Speech: Voices From The
Unconscious." This book contains an
extensive and historical analysis of many other
reversals and backward messages in music. To
purchase a copy of this book go to the Products
Section of this
website.
David
John Oates
Founder and Developer of Reverse Speech
Technologies
PO Box 678, Noarlunga Centre, SA 5168.
Australia
phone: 08 83824372 - international: 61 8
83824372
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