# What was the context of the First backwards analysis Of "Stairway to Heaven" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090 "2005-03-18T01:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/1 "2005-03-18T01:59:39Z")
Well? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/2 "2005-03-18T02:33:24Z")
That some people have way too much time on their hands. There was not then, nor is there now, any backwards masking anywhere in the song. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/3 "2005-03-18T02:48:53Z")
Back in the pre-internet days, loonies used photocopied (or mimeographed) sheets to spread their ideas around. As I recall, the backward masking meme hit its peak around 1980, and the context surrounding it was photocopied sheets of typewritten warnings, earnestly distributed, telling of a Satanic conspiracy to brainwash people with hidden messages in music. What I _assume_ was the original screed contained a list of many popular songs supposedly containing hidden messages, many of which are still cited as “subliminal” songs to this day, with the same supposed hidden content. The suggestion was that “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a spring-clean for the May Queen” played backwards yields “My sweet Satan, no other made a path, for it makes me sad, whose power is Satan?” I remember that the same screed claimed that the chorus of Queen’s _Another One Bites The Dust_, backwards, was “Start to smoke marijuana, marijuana, marijuana.” Of course, if you listened to them “cold,” you’d never hear any such thing, but if you’re _told_ what you’re going to hear, you’re liable to hear it that way, if you “squint your ears.” It _sort_ of sounds like it could be what was being said, if the speaker had a really wicked head cold, Down syndrome, and several steel bolts through their tongue. 😃 When I was a teenager, the idea fascinated me. I was by no means under the impression that my favourite records had intentional backwards messages in them, but I thought it would be fun to try to contrive lyrics that _did_ contain backwards content. Turns out, it’s much harder than textual palindromes. (My best effort there is “In Eden? I? Never! Even in Eden, I.”) Armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a _lot_ of free time, the best I could do with backwards masking is this: “I’m scary Nevada.” [which, reversed, comes out as, approximately,] “I have an earache. Smell!” If anyone ever did manage to work out stuff that reads as workable lyrics forward, and coherent speech backward, then they were really wasted in a hair-band. (Wait, let me rephrase that… ah, you know what I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/4 "2005-03-18T03:09:42Z")
As with so many ideas in pop music, it started with the Beatles. John Lennon heard a tape being played backwards one day and thought it was an interesting sound. So he incorporated some short pieces of backward music in the background of some songs. Other musicians followed his example and also put in excerpts of backwards taped music. People heard about this and began playing these songs backwards so they could hear these short excerpts of music in their original state. So far, all of this was indicative of nothing more serious than some people had too much time on their hands back in the sixties. But then some people began to claim they were hearing “messages” in the other parts of the songs that were now backwards. Passages in the songs that sounded normal when played forward supposedly sounded like “I buried Paul” or “here’s to my sweet Satan” or “vote Nixon in 72” when played in reverse. And once the idea set in, people began playing all of the songs they could find backwards to get the “secret meaning”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/5 "2005-03-18T03:20:16Z")
As a bona fide rock 'n roll deejay back in those days (complete with hundreds of records at hand and a turntable that could be turned in either direction) I’ve only heard two song passages that sounded like ANYTHING when they were played backwards. The better one was Johnny Winter’s scream of “Rock and Rolllllllllll!” at the beginning of his cover of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. When played backwards at just the right speed it sounded exactly like “OHHHHHHHHH look out!” The second was a short segment of Lennon’s Instant Karma that supposedly said “you suck” – allthough to me, it always sounded more like “oos uk.” If there was a sinister musical conspiracy, it wasn’t done well. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/6 "2005-03-18T03:24:40Z")
I believe you can hear the first “backward music” incorporated into the end of the song “Rain”. > [@](#): > > Can you hear me, can you hear me? > If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. > sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI. > (Rain) > naiR. > (Rain) > enihsnuS. [http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Rain-lyrics-The-Beatles/4DBD08D02DA6982148256BC2001D1E64](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Rain-lyrics-The-Beatles/4DBD08D02DA6982148256BC2001D1E64) This song was the flip-side of the single “Paperback Writer”. This single and its flip-side were released just before the Revolver album, but never included on an album. [http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/Catwalk/1038/beatledisc.html](http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/Catwalk/1038/beatledisc.html) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/7 "2005-03-18T03:26:31Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Passages in the songs that sounded normal when played forward supposedly sounded like “I buried Paul” […] when played in reverse. It should be noted that the “I buried Paul” thing never had a ‘backwards’ component. It is supposed to be uttered in the usual direction at the weird denoument of _Strawberry Fields Forever_, although Lennon said it was actually “Cranberry sauce.” It’s deep enough in the mix that it’s hard to tell. The backwards bit of the dead Paul mythos is from Revolution #9, where “Number Nine… Number Nine… Number Nine…” is supposed to be “Turn me on, dead man… Turn me on, dead man… Turn me on, dead man,” when played backwards. And just to be ridiculously nitpicky, backwards recordings were being used by freaky folks like John Cage, Edgard Varese, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to the delight of hopheads, beatniks, and other malcontents, for over twenty years before Sgt. Peppers blew a new generation of plastic fantastic minds. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/8 "2005-03-18T03:49:22Z")
The song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” was also released in the summer of 1966. The flip-side was just side A recorded backwards. Did Johnny get the idea from this song? [http://www.abc.net.au/newengland/stories/s1266455.htm](http://www.abc.net.au/newengland/stories/s1266455.htm) [http://lyrical.nl/song/18915](http://lyrical.nl/song/18915) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/9 "2005-03-18T03:57:32Z")
I saw a lecture on CSPAN-2 by physicist Simon Singh in which he tied in “Stairway to Heaven” with his lecture. Here’s a good summary: • Singh played a clip from “Stairway” played forward and backward. • Source: [www.reversespeech.com](http://www.reversespeech.com) • Singh asked, “Who heard the word ‘Satan’?” (about 1 in 3 in the audience). • Singh then asked, “Who heard, ‘It’s my sweet Satan, The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan. Oh he’ll give you, give you 666. There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.’?” (No one in the audience) • Singh replayed the backwards clip after he read the quote. Everyone heard it the second time around (his slide highlighted the words as they were said). • This was an example of priming the brain. The brain is good at pattern recognition, and its even better at filling in patterns when data is poor (e.g. tin-ny speakers vs. Kepler’s sound system). [http://kwc.org/blog/archives/2005/2005-01-31.talk\_simon\_singh\_the\_big\_bang.html](http://kwc.org/blog/archives/2005/2005-01-31.talk_simon_singh_the_big_bang.html) It was actually pretty cool to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/10 "2005-03-18T04:01:37Z")
As another ex-DJ, I can attest to the (unintentional, of course) backwards masking of George Jones’ _He Stopped Loving Her Today_. The weeping, wailing country song starts out cold with Jones singing “He said I’ll love you…till I die…” Stop the record/tape after Jones sings “He said I’ll love you…” and reverse. You will clearly hear “Eat a lot of shit.” :eek: I was never able to demonstrate this on the air, though… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/11 "2005-03-18T06:38:44Z")
Of course, if you sing the title of the classic Rutles song “Sgt. Rutter’s Only Darts Club Band” backwards, it’s supposed to sound very like “Stig has been dead for ages honestly,” which helped fuel the conspiracy theories surrounding his possible demise. In fact, it sounds uncannily like “dnab bulc strad ylno srettur tnaegres.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/12 "2005-03-18T09:11:48Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > This song was the flip-side of the single “Paperback Writer”. This single and its flip-side were released just before the Revolver album, but never included on an album. _Rain_ was on _Hey Jude_ (1970) in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![coop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@coop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coop)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/13 "2005-03-18T09:15:17Z")
This thread has been about real bands/singers…until now. 🙂 [Check this out…](http://www.koreus.com/files/200405/britneysubliminal.html) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/14 "2005-03-18T11:15:02Z")
I just want to point out what should be obvious… spelling a word backwards will not give the actual backwards pronunciation. That’s because we don’t pronounce letters, we pronounce _phonemes_. The way to say a phrase backwards is to first identify the phonemes. For example, the long “i” vowel in a word like “Cite?” is actually a diphthong made of two phonemes. To get it backwards, you can’t just repeat the same way it’s said forwards. You have to make a diphthong in reverse order. So writing “?etiC” has nothing to do with how “Cite?” is said backwards. The phonemes in “Cite?” are sa:jt. Backwards is tja:s. (Here the letter j in IPA spells the sound of y.) The _Twin Peaks_ DVD has special features including a tutorial by the actor Michael Anderson (The Man from Another Place), who was famous for speaking phonemes backwards in the Red Room, with the tape reversed to make the words come out frontwards, but sounding very bizarre. “Little Mike” reminded viewers to “First find the phonemes!” lja:ts ni kæb ngimuk sti kja:l u:j mug tæð ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/15 "2005-03-18T13:36:18Z")
Well, it would NEVER have occurred to me to play any record backwards, searching for messages, if someone hadn’t suggested it. In other words, if some nutball preacher hadn’t TOLD me to play a particular passage of “Stairway to HEaven” backwards, I’d never have done it! Be that as it may, back around 1980, when I first heard the “Sweet Satan” theory, I got out my “Led Zeppelin IV” album and played the “May Queen” passage backwards. What I heard was a lot of garbled nonsense with one portion that sounded like 'sha-WEET-seh-DIN." If someone wants to interpret that as “Sweet Satan,” well, I won’t argue. But I didn’t hear anything that resembled a coherent sentence or even a coherent thought. Funny story: a few years later, another evangelical nut got some publicity by claiming the “Mr. Ed” theme song had Satanic messages. To ridicule the guy, Howard Stern played the “Mr. Ed” theme backwards on the air. And believe it or not, while 99% of the song sounds like meaningless drivel when played backwards, ther WERE two audible lines that sounded Satanic! It went something like: “Du-dee-sha-blurg-ya-wer-fak-waz-Duh-saws-is-duh-DEV-ull” It sounded a lot like “The source is the devil.” And a later passage went “ZUM-bun-seng-dee-ZON-verZAY-din.” That sounded a lot like “Someone sang this song for Satan.” Now, I’m a LOT more worried about people who’d take the trouible to look for such messages in a TV theme song than I am about weird random sounds they might find in the process. But still, it was hilarious to hear those lines! And come to think of it… maybe Satanic possession is the only way to explain a talking horse. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/16 "2005-03-18T13:49:23Z")
No, no. The _sauce_ is the devil. Let’s phonemically analyze that passage from S2H. “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow don’t be alarmed now It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen” if ðErz @ b@s.l in jor hEdZro dont bi:j @la:rmd na:w its dZ@st @ spring kli:n for ð@ mej kwi:n Backwards: ni:wk jem @ð rof ni:lk ngirps @ ts@Zd sti wa:n dmra:l@ ji:b tnod orZdEh roj ni l.s@b @ zrEð fi Where in this jumble of syllables can anyone find a supposedly Satanic message? Satan’s phonemes backwards come out tanje:s. Nothing in there is even close. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/17 "2005-03-18T14:41:25Z")
“Satan’s Phonemes” would be a great band name (probably not as good as “Satan’s Pheromones” though). Anyway, all the Led Zep and Beatles stuff was before my time, by I do recall this still going on in the early 80’s. I had Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” (which had a clear warning that it may contain backward messages) and we played the whole thing backwards on the “good” stereo in the living room. There was one part that seemed to clearly state “Listen boys, he will eat you” and another that said “the one is coming”. We thought this was cool and dangerous and all that and didn’t tell our parents, who were outraged enough at the ridiculous outfits the Crue wore at that point. At any rate, I think now that the real reason the record companies didn’t discourage this ridiculous meme was that playing your vinyl backwards is a pretty good way to ruin it and have to buy another copy. I know I had to buy replacements for a couple albums due to playing them backwards. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/18 "2005-03-18T14:54:29Z")
Do you have a handy guide for the pseudo-IPA you’re using? I know IPA using its native symbols but this is kind of cool, you’re (mostly) using regular ASCII characters. (The ð being the only obvious exception). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/19 "2005-03-18T15:03:30Z")
Pink Floyd’s “Young Lust” (_The Wall_) has a backwards message. “Congratulations, you’ve found the secret message!” 🙂 (It goes on from there, something about sending your answer to Old Floyd, care of something-or-other) ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090/20 "2005-03-18T15:33:22Z")
> [@ELO](#): > > The music is reversable. Time is not. Turn back. Turn back. …if you play Fire on High backward. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-context-of-the-first-backwards-analysis-of-stairway-to-heaven/295090.md?page=2)