# Satan's toolshed: Real backward/subliminal lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satans-toolshed-real-backward-subliminal-lyrics/295318 "2005-03-19T15:16:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satans-toolshed-real-backward-subliminal-lyrics/295318/21 "2005-03-20T12:40:22Z")
Frank Zappa’s _Ya Hozna_, on Them Or Us. The liner notes simply say “backwards lyrics - you figure it out”. How the hell I was supposed to do that with a cassette tape I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satans-toolshed-real-backward-subliminal-lyrics/295318/22 "2005-03-20T13:56:09Z")
> [@wheelie](#): > > Frank Zappa’s _Ya Hozna_, on Them Or Us. > The liner notes simply say “backwards lyrics - you figure it out”. > How the hell I was supposed to do that with a cassette tape I don’t know. Keep in mind that Zappa was heavily involved in the fight against Tipper Gore and the PRMC, whom he dubbed “The Mothers of Prevention”, who were fighting to have rock music placed under scrutiny and labeled if found to be potentially offensive. And at that time, the idea that subliminal messages could actually make their way into young people’s brains got a lot more credit than it does now. He actually used some of his PRMC testimony in “Porn Wars”. So the liner notes on ToU – much like the warning sticker on the live record “The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life” – were a dig at the censors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satans-toolshed-real-backward-subliminal-lyrics/295318.md?page=1)