You're talking backward!
Jan. 26th, 2009 08:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hippie_chickMonday Music Mambo @ Blogdrive Insanity!
Name as many songs as you can think of that have backwards music, lyrics, or are just fun to play backwards.
I never thought much about backward masking in songs until hearing about all the "Paul Is Dead" hubbub. I seriously think the Beatles single handedly put backward masking on the map when the line in "Rain", "When the rain comes they run and hide their heads." is played backward, just because John Lennon liked how it sounded.
More Beatlemasking:
Revolution 9 - Just as trippy and creepy backward as it is forward. Contains lots of Paul is Dead "clues" like the sound of screaming and a horrible car crash...
I'm So Tired - At the end of the song right before we move on to the next track, which is "Blackbird", you can hear some audible mumbling. Play it backward and it becomes "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him, MISS HIM."
But I'll let you Google or research "Paul is Dead" to see more forward and backward musical "clues" as well as visual ones.
Before moving on from the Beatles, on the "Love" soundtrack (Cirque du Soleil), George and Giles Martin have produced "Gnik Nus" ... which is the song "Sun King"... backward! It's actually quite beautiful, just as pretty backward as forward melodically.
Another recurring "theme" in backmasking is Satanism. One big example is by Led Zeppelin.
Playing "Stairway to Heaven" backward yields you all kinds of Satanic Messages:
Zeppelin's "Black Dog" also has a little Satanic message:
"'Cause got to tell her friend she's going to be a star" becomes "Oh Satan once lived in the place that I saw" when played backward.
Another song with Satanic messages when played backward is the Eagles' "Hotel California". For instance this verse played forward:
"I was thinking to myself
this could be Heaven,
this could be Hell.
Then she lit up a candle
and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
thought I heard them say
Welcome to the hotel California."
Becomes a Satanic message when played in reverse:
"Yeah Satan, he organized,
oh, he organized his own religion.
Yeah, when he knows he should,
how nice, it was delicious,
he puts it in a vat, he fixes it
for his son which he gives away."
Even Michael Jackson, a Jehovah's Witness, isn't immune to masking a little Satan in his songs:
"Beat It" forward: "They'll kick you and they'll beat you then they'll tell you it's fair" becomes "I do believe it was Satan in me" when played in reverse.
CHILDREN'S CARTOON THEME SONGS are not even immune! Listen to the theme from "Pokemon" backward some time... "Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all!" becomes "I love you, Satan!" EEP!
Beelzebub became a popular subject of backmasking particularly on metal albums in the 80s when songs and bands were targeted for their lyrics and influence on teens, too, so I'm sure there are PLENTY more of this type of backmasking, intentional or otherwise to be found. Weird Al Yankovic, however put HIS answer to all this Satanic backmasking haberdashery in his song "Nature Trail To Hell" on "Weird Al in 3-D"... playing it backward you hear him say "Satan eats Cheese Whiz!" Gotta love Al. Haha!
A couple more randoms that I can think of not necessarily having anything to do with Satan or Paul McCartney being dead:
Queen's song "Another One Bites The Dust" when played backward becomes a song all about how much fun it is to smoke marijuana. "It's fun to smoke marijuana!"
In Britney Spears' hit song "...Baby One More Time", she sings "When I'm not with you I lose my mind, give me a sign." Play that backward and it becomes "Sleep with me, I'm not too young." The slut. *giggle*
Pink Floyd put an intentional backward masked message in their song "Empty Spaces" on the album "The Wall":
"Hello, hunters. Congratulations. You've just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont."
The band Judas Priest was sued over the song "Better By You, Better Than Me" after the suicide of a teenage boy. It supposedly contained encouraging pro suicide messages like "Do it!" The case ended up being dismissed.
There you have it, only a few I came up with off the top of my head. I know there's more.
YouTube backward masking for tons more stuff! Or use the related videos scroll at the bottom of the embeds I have here.
Name as many songs as you can think of that have backwards music, lyrics, or are just fun to play backwards.
I never thought much about backward masking in songs until hearing about all the "Paul Is Dead" hubbub. I seriously think the Beatles single handedly put backward masking on the map when the line in "Rain", "When the rain comes they run and hide their heads." is played backward, just because John Lennon liked how it sounded.
More Beatlemasking:
Revolution 9 - Just as trippy and creepy backward as it is forward. Contains lots of Paul is Dead "clues" like the sound of screaming and a horrible car crash...
I'm So Tired - At the end of the song right before we move on to the next track, which is "Blackbird", you can hear some audible mumbling. Play it backward and it becomes "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him, MISS HIM."
But I'll let you Google or research "Paul is Dead" to see more forward and backward musical "clues" as well as visual ones.
Before moving on from the Beatles, on the "Love" soundtrack (Cirque du Soleil), George and Giles Martin have produced "Gnik Nus" ... which is the song "Sun King"... backward! It's actually quite beautiful, just as pretty backward as forward melodically.
Another recurring "theme" in backmasking is Satanism. One big example is by Led Zeppelin.
Playing "Stairway to Heaven" backward yields you all kinds of Satanic Messages:
Zeppelin's "Black Dog" also has a little Satanic message:
"'Cause got to tell her friend she's going to be a star" becomes "Oh Satan once lived in the place that I saw" when played backward.
Another song with Satanic messages when played backward is the Eagles' "Hotel California". For instance this verse played forward:
"I was thinking to myself
this could be Heaven,
this could be Hell.
Then she lit up a candle
and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
thought I heard them say
Welcome to the hotel California."
Becomes a Satanic message when played in reverse:
"Yeah Satan, he organized,
oh, he organized his own religion.
Yeah, when he knows he should,
how nice, it was delicious,
he puts it in a vat, he fixes it
for his son which he gives away."
Even Michael Jackson, a Jehovah's Witness, isn't immune to masking a little Satan in his songs:
"Beat It" forward: "They'll kick you and they'll beat you then they'll tell you it's fair" becomes "I do believe it was Satan in me" when played in reverse.
CHILDREN'S CARTOON THEME SONGS are not even immune! Listen to the theme from "Pokemon" backward some time... "Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all!" becomes "I love you, Satan!" EEP!
Beelzebub became a popular subject of backmasking particularly on metal albums in the 80s when songs and bands were targeted for their lyrics and influence on teens, too, so I'm sure there are PLENTY more of this type of backmasking, intentional or otherwise to be found. Weird Al Yankovic, however put HIS answer to all this Satanic backmasking haberdashery in his song "Nature Trail To Hell" on "Weird Al in 3-D"... playing it backward you hear him say "Satan eats Cheese Whiz!" Gotta love Al. Haha!
A couple more randoms that I can think of not necessarily having anything to do with Satan or Paul McCartney being dead:
Queen's song "Another One Bites The Dust" when played backward becomes a song all about how much fun it is to smoke marijuana. "It's fun to smoke marijuana!"
In Britney Spears' hit song "...Baby One More Time", she sings "When I'm not with you I lose my mind, give me a sign." Play that backward and it becomes "Sleep with me, I'm not too young." The slut. *giggle*
Pink Floyd put an intentional backward masked message in their song "Empty Spaces" on the album "The Wall":
"Hello, hunters. Congratulations. You've just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont."
The band Judas Priest was sued over the song "Better By You, Better Than Me" after the suicide of a teenage boy. It supposedly contained encouraging pro suicide messages like "Do it!" The case ended up being dismissed.
There you have it, only a few I came up with off the top of my head. I know there's more.
YouTube backward masking for tons more stuff! Or use the related videos scroll at the bottom of the embeds I have here.
