songs that have backwards messages?
May 20, 2005 12:53 PM Subscribe
What songs actually have messages when played backwards, or at least are popularly rumored to do so?
Check out the Deliberate Backmasking and Parodies of Backmasking sections here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_message
(I contributed the B-52's part to the parodies. I'm so proud!)
posted by lumpenprole at 1:00 PM on May 20, 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_message
(I contributed the B-52's part to the parodies. I'm so proud!)
posted by lumpenprole at 1:00 PM on May 20, 2005
Oops, cillit bang beat me to it....
posted by lumpenprole at 1:01 PM on May 20, 2005
posted by lumpenprole at 1:01 PM on May 20, 2005
This might be the firsttime it's revealed in a public forum, but if you reverse the Clash's "Capital Radio" part of the lines:
He knows all the hits to play
To keep you in your place all day
Sounds convincingly like "Everybody likes pie. Or I do."
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:10 PM on May 20, 2005
He knows all the hits to play
To keep you in your place all day
Sounds convincingly like "Everybody likes pie. Or I do."
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:10 PM on May 20, 2005
"Maybe I'm Amazed" really does have a leek soup recipe in it if you listen backwards.
posted by annathea at 1:31 PM on May 20, 2005
posted by annathea at 1:31 PM on May 20, 2005
"Another one bites the dust" backwards can be interpreted as "it's fun to smoke marijuana".
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:52 PM on May 20, 2005
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:52 PM on May 20, 2005
The Wikipedia entry mentions ELO's "Fire On High", but misses the reason - if you play the title track from the previous album ("Eldorado") backwards, it supposedly says "he is the nasty one; Christ, your inferno". Got them into a little bit of trouble with the moral majority-type folks at the time, which is funny considering that they'd managed to get away with the line "They just don't mean a fucking thing" in an earlier song.
In a single. Played on high rotation on BBC radio...
Keeping up the ELO-geekdom, there's also the much-later "Secret Messages" where almost all the tracks have some backwards masking in them.
Wikipedia also gets the TMBG song "On Earth My Nina" a little wrong - it's really John Linnel doing his fake-backwards-singing trick. He's actually singing forwards, faking backwards masking, and when played in reverse it sounds like "Thunderbird". Which is exactly what you'd expect from a man who also managed to successfully rhyme "girl" with "squirrel"...
posted by Pinback at 5:28 PM on May 20, 2005
In a single. Played on high rotation on BBC radio...
Keeping up the ELO-geekdom, there's also the much-later "Secret Messages" where almost all the tracks have some backwards masking in them.
Wikipedia also gets the TMBG song "On Earth My Nina" a little wrong - it's really John Linnel doing his fake-backwards-singing trick. He's actually singing forwards, faking backwards masking, and when played in reverse it sounds like "Thunderbird". Which is exactly what you'd expect from a man who also managed to successfully rhyme "girl" with "squirrel"...
posted by Pinback at 5:28 PM on May 20, 2005
Not a song, but what the hell...the 80's cartoon GI Joe has a funny one.
posted by jikel_morten at 5:59 PM on May 20, 2005
posted by jikel_morten at 5:59 PM on May 20, 2005
Stairway to Heaven is my personal favorite backwards song. It even sounds better this way!
posted by lorbus at 11:58 PM on May 20, 2005
posted by lorbus at 11:58 PM on May 20, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cillit bang at 12:58 PM on May 20, 2005