# Backmasking, or "Who's Paul, how he died and why should we miss him, man?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323 "2000-11-30T04:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/21 "2000-11-30T20:49:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > **So if these hints were being dropped as early as 1964-65, and the rumors didn’t arise until 1969-70, explain how they knew to put them there?** Okay, here’s a further clarification of the time-line involved. Paul is slain in a bloody car-crash in 1966 (THAT’S why the Beatles stopped touring, get it?). He’s replaced by look-alike Billy Shears, winner of the “PM Look-Alike Contest,” who required some plastic surgery to pass for Paul (note scar on lip on WHITE ALBUM photo insert). The clues do NOT begin appearing on albums until 1967’s SGT. PEPPER…those who claim that there are clues on MEET THE BEATLES and REVOLVER are clearly not serious about this at ALL, and we needn’t concern ourselves with them. The clues begin to be noticed by stoned college sophomores in October, 1969, and the rest is history. > [@](#): > > \*\*They’re only “hints” if one chooses to apply the most tortured possible logic, silliness and outright falsehood to them. It still amazes me that at The Straight Dope, some people are devoted to holding on to easily disproveable bits of urban legendry. \*\* Aha! You’ve nailed the appeal of it, for me anyway! The whole “Paul is Dead” thing is so completely and utterly LOONY that my heart went out to it at once! Much as I appreciate the **David B** -style approach in the people who fill my prescriptions and adjust my plumbing and look for cures for cancer, I’d hate to curl up with a collection of M.R. James stories, only to stop and say “This is simply ridiculous! Everyone knows that there is no such thing as a ghost!” So, as far as “PID” is concerned, I’ll swap death-clues with anybody else who wants to play. Note my broad wink. ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/22 "2000-11-30T20:53:48Z")
OK… now I’m hooked. I’m another one of the 40+ crowd and remember doing what they said would screw up our record needles by playing the Beatles songs backwards. Of course the goldmine for the “Paul is dead” conspiracy buffs was “Revolution #9” (“Turn me on, dead man…turn me on, dead man…”). I also remember there being what sounded like a synthesizer bit that was unmistakably a piano riff when played backwards. In fact, years later I swear I heard the same piano riff on a classical music station, but never found out what the piece was. Anyway, with all the state of the art stuff available today, would it be possible to play an MP3 file backwards possibly within Peak or some audio editing program? I feel a flashback coming on, man! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/23 "2000-11-30T20:56:54Z")
Oooh, oooh—don’t forget Paul facing away from the camera on the “Sergeant Pepper” photo; and that “walrus” is slang for “corpse” in some language or another. My sister and I actually played “Revolution No. Nine” backwards and convinced ourselves we heard a car crash, “let me out!” and “turn me on dead man.” Uni, if you’re 42, you were quite old enough in the late '60s to remember this! I’m 43 and was totally into the “Paul is Dead” scenario at the time. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/24 "2000-11-30T21:26:58Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Aha! You’ve nailed the appeal of it, for me anyway! The whole “Paul is Dead” thing is so completely and utterly LOONY that my heart went out to it at once! . . . So, as far as “PID” is concerned, I’ll swap death-clues with anybody else who wants to play. Note my broad wink. \*\* Well, sure, there’s the wink-wink, nudge-nudge approach, and there’s the “But it was all a plot by the Beatles!” approach. I have no problem with the former. THe “Internet Beatles Album,” by the way, parodies both nicely in their [George is Dead](http://www.getback.org/breflib/gid.html) section. And of course there’s no such thing as a ghost. Any **educated** person knows that dead people, in fact, become zombies. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/25 "2000-11-30T21:43:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \* > \*\*Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? 😉 \*\* Paul McCartney was in a band? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/26 "2000-11-30T21:50:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Uni, if you’re 42, you were quite old enough in the late '60s to remember this! I’m 43 and was totally into the “Paul is Dead” scenario at the time. \*\* Yeah, but as you remember, there was also no OFFICIAL denial from the Fabs at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/27 "2000-11-30T21:52:56Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Cabbage \* \*\* > [@](#): > > I guarantee you there is no backwards message in “Stairway to Heaven”. \*\* And I guarentee that there is, right from Jimmy Page’s mouth. And yes, it was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/28 "2000-11-30T22:08:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyway, with all the state of the art stuff available today, would it be possible to play an MP3 file backwards possibly within Peak or some audio editing program? Yeah, you can download GoldWave from [http://www.goldwave.com](http://www.goldwave.com) It’s free. Ever try putting a mirror vertically along the middle of the bass drum on Sgt. Pepper’s? It says “1-ONE-1 X” and “He Die” with an arrow pointing up at Paul. One and one and one is three; obviously Paul is dead. ;)😉 ::nudge:: ::nudge:: > [@](#): > > And I guarentee that there is, right from Jimmy Page’s mouth. And yes, it was a joke. Where in the song? ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/29 "2000-11-30T22:19:43Z")
Nowhere in the song, Cabbabe. He said that when I interviewed him for the late BEATS magazine, at the time of the Un-Ledded album. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/30 "2000-11-30T22:29:27Z")
So there’s a backwards message in the song, but it’s nowhere in the song. I see now. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/31 "2000-11-30T22:51:48Z")
It IS in the song. It says stuff like 'And he will give you 666, I follow you Satan", and six or seven phrases like that. Search for the moments in the song where Robert Plant’s voice appears to be doubled. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/32 "2000-11-30T23:05:43Z")
I heard stories about “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen having a backward message. So I disengaged the motor on my turntable and played it backwards. This is what I heard: “Tsud uth stibe no rthuna”. Spooky! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/33 "2000-11-30T23:08:24Z")
Uniball, no doubt you still have a copy of this interview. Care to post it? Or perchance it exists somewhere on the WWW? Got a link for us? It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that I think you’re full of poo-poo. Show me the interview and I’ll retract that statement. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/34 "2000-12-01T00:31:31Z")
A Zeppelin website at [http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1897/index.html](http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1897/index.html) carries this bit from a _Rolling Stone_ interview with the band when the boxed set was released: Plant: “I mean, who on earth would have ever thought of doing that in the first place? You’ve got to have a lot of time on your hands to even consider that people would do that. Especially with ‘Stairway To Heaven.’ I mean, we were so proud of that thing, and its intentions are so positive… I found it foul, the whole idea…but it’s very American. Nowhere else in the world has anybody ever considered it, or been concerned or bothered at all about that. I figure if backward masking really worked, every album in the store would have ‘Buy this album!’ hidden on it.” Page: “You’ve got it, you’ve hit the nail on the head. And that’s all there is to say about it.” Jones: “Of course it’s fatal, you know, because you tend to wind these people up after a while. If you go around saying, ‘Oh yes, if you play track eight at thirty-six rpm, you’ll definitely hear a message,’ they’ll go right home and try it. English bands tend to be more ironic and sarcastic, and once they discovered the average lack of American irony and humour, it’s just sitting ducks, really. You just sort of have to go for it.” ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/35 "2000-12-01T01:17:53Z")
Back when I was a comic book collector, one of my favorites was an issue of Batman in which he was called in to help solve a situation where there was widespread concern that one of the members of a 4-man British rock band had secretly died. It was such an obvious knockoff of the “Paul is dead” controversy that it was a hoot, but the real payoff came at the end when it was revealed that the _other three_ band members had died and the rumor was started by the survivor to focus attention on him rather than the 3 doubles who replaced the others. Much fun. As far as the “backward masking” stuff goes, I believe William Poundstone has a large chapter in one of his “Big Secrets” books where he cites specific instances. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/36 "2000-12-01T01:19:05Z")
When I was in high school, I got my first four-track recorder, which allowed me to do two things: 1. Record music stuff. 2. Listen to stuff backwards. Having heard rumours that every thing under the sun had backwards messages (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, etc.), I listened to a lot of stuff backwards. Anyway, I found some stuff that is or is not “satanic” and was or was not intentionally put there. That’s not the point. One day I helped my brother record a song he had written, and for the hell of it, after we finished mixing and mastering it, I flipped the tape over and played it backwards. Sure enough, right in the middle of the third verse, you can hear my brother sing, clear as a bell: _ **Satan is my new suit** _ We laughed. And then we laughed again. Now, twelve years later, I’m giggling at the memory. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/37 "2000-12-01T01:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > \*\*A Zeppelin website at [http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1897/index.html](http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1897/index.html) carries this bit from a _Rolling Stone_ interview with the band when the boxed set was released: > \*\* You’re so naive. Do you REALLY think they would say “yeah, we’re satanists, we put an ode to Lucifer in your best song!”? NOT! Get the vynil (I haven’t tried with the CD), make an MP3, play it backwards and there it is. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/38 "2000-12-01T02:02:00Z")
Yeah, you’re right, One-Nut. We’re all naive. And there are satanic messages in _Stairway to Heaven_, and Paul really is dead, and Mikey did die of pop rocks and Coke, and The Beav did die in Viet Nam, and Elvis is still alive, and so is Hitler, and Jim Morisson, and there are spider eggs in Bubble Yum, and McDonald’s hamburgers are made of kangaroo meat, and Proctor and Gambel is owned by the Moonies. Let me ask you something. Do you believe everything you read or just the fun stuff? :rolleyes: I have played _Starway_ backwards, and it’s NOT there. It doesn’t matter how many times you say it is, or how many fictional interviews you’ve held with Jimmy Page. - Fighting ignorance - If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/39 "2000-12-01T02:08:08Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Uniball \* \*\* > [@](#): > > You’re so naive. Do you REALLY think they would say “yeah, we’re satanists, we put an ode to Lucifer in your best song!”? NOT! Get the vynil (I haven’t tried with the CD), make an MP3, play it backwards and there it is. \*\* OK, for beginners, while Jimmy Page is an enormous admirer, reader and collector of Alistair Crowley and his works, he may or may not be a capital-s Satanist. I seriously doubt the other members of Led Zeppelin are or were. John Paul Jones particularly strikes me as a little above such frivolity. Anyway, you’re claiming that Page **did** in fact say that–so did he or didn’t he? Secondly, much like Montfort mentions with his four-track experience, I have worked both in recording studios with several bands and for countless hours in radio station production booths. Any sort of tape editing requires running it backwards over the play heads occasionally. I’ve done so often enough to understand the value of coincidence and the habit of the human brain to seek patterns in phonemes that even remotely resemble intelligible speech. Until you can produce these Jimmy Page quotes in an autoritatuive, I’m afraid I’ll go with the extant quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323/40 "2000-12-01T02:15:29Z")
I’ll do better. As soon as my turntable is fixed, I’ll rip the song, turn it backwards and post it somewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backmasking-or-whos-paul-how-he-died-and-why-should-we-miss-him-man/43323.md?page=3)