Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Stairway to Heaven Subliminal Messages
Some time ago I received an email from a professor at York University. He asked if he could use part of my Stairway to Heaven backwards site / idea for a class. Here is the conclusion of his experiment.
Jeff-
I have now given my lecture on perception, and the Stairway to Heaven was a real hit. Before I played it backwards, (and after they had listened forwards a few times), I distributed sheets of paper with the "words". Half the class got the Satan stuff, and the other half got my own words, which have nothing to do with Satan or religion. I realized at the outset that my words did not fit quite as well as the Satan ones, but some lines fit very well. The demo went perfectly - those who had the Satan words could "hear" the backwards lines very well, and those who got my words, could hear at least some of my lines well. Interestingly, those who "heard" my words had a very difficult time hearing the Satanic words later on when I played it again.
Thanks again so much for your [help]. It has really helped me make a very important point about the nature of perception and how we actually construct our percepts.
Cheers
Jim
posted by Jeff Milner at 2/08/2005 02:43:00 PM
Comments: 31(Permalink)
Comments:
Wow! My friend stubled across your site on google and thought it was cool. News flies in middle school, so in two days everyone was going to the backwards messages. PROPS!
-whh
-whh
Comment posted by Mr. HH at 3/22/2005 2:45 PM (Permalink)
Hey i love your site!
Have any more songs that have backward messages? I look forward to hear them.
Larry
Have any more songs that have backward messages? I look forward to hear them.
Larry
Comment posted by larry at 3/25/2005 2:09 PM (Permalink)
This post has been removed by the author.
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/23/2005 6:41 PM (Permalink)
dude your stuff is awesome and you
should try nto get more led zepplen and pink floyd. cant wait
should try nto get more led zepplen and pink floyd. cant wait
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/23/2005 6:45 PM (Permalink)
i dont think the pink floyd 1 was true well i belive it just not as much as i want 2 because normally there are piane notes at the beginning but in reverse at the end(because its in reverse as you no) there are no piano notes.
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/24/2005 5:59 PM (Permalink)
This post has been removed by the author.
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/24/2005 6:00 PM (Permalink)
i dont think the pink floyd 1 was true well i belive it just not as much as i want 2 because normally there are piane notes at the beginning but in reverse at the end(because its in reverse as you no) there are no piano notes.
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/24/2005 6:08 PM (Permalink)
hey dude on my nam is if you click on forward then really fast click on reverse the it is slim its eminem the reverse part sounds lis a backbackgrund music part
-sean
P.s. i said the dude your stuff is awesome 1 and the pink floyd 1
-sean
P.s. i said the dude your stuff is awesome 1 and the pink floyd 1
Comment posted by stewygrif at 4/24/2005 6:17 PM (Permalink)
yo! i heard the backward songs thingie.. and i can hear a thing! just blaublahlau, i went to your site cuz first i tried to reverse stairway to heaven myself, recording it and reversing it, and didnt hear anything, and i still cant hear!! hit me one more time backwards sounds cool but i dont get a thing! can u tell me what they say?
Comment posted by lyor at 5/19/2005 7:33 PM (Permalink)
click the button below play backwards, and you will see the song text.
The piano tones in pink floyd is there, if you listen closely, but they are reversed so they dont sound like a piano.
The piano tones in pink floyd is there, if you listen closely, but they are reversed so they dont sound like a piano.
Comment posted by yxan at 5/31/2005 6:03 AM (Permalink)
This post has been removed by the author.
Comment posted by Austin at 6/04/2005 11:59 AM (Permalink)
Hey,
I went to your site with the backmasking songs and it wont work for me. every time i go to the site it just shows a blank screen. Could someone pls help me?
from- AMC
I went to your site with the backmasking songs and it wont work for me. every time i go to the site it just shows a blank screen. Could someone pls help me?
from- AMC
Comment posted by Austin at 6/04/2005 12:02 PM (Permalink)
I went to a talk at a book festival recently where the lecturer (author Simon Singh) played the same Stairway to Heaven lyrics you have. Singh then played it backwards. My friend and I heard the word ‘satan’ but that was all. Singh asked the audience how many people heard the word 'satan' and about one in five people put their hand up.
He then asked who heard “oh my sweet satan [etc…]” (exactly as on your site) and we all had a bit of a chuckle because there was no way anyone heard all of those lyrics.
He put the backward lyrics on the projector and played it again and, honestly, everyone (100+ people) heard every single word.
He was demonstrating how the brain wants order and understanding. So what you hear initially is correct: a whole lot of gobbledygook. When the brain has something (lyrics) to connect with that gobbledygook it ‘fills in the gaps’ to make sense of the words.
I find it interesting anyway: whether deliberate, accidental, real, or imagination.
Thanks for putting together this website. I’ve enjoyed listening to all the songs and entertaining my friends with the Led Zepplin lyrics.
He then asked who heard “oh my sweet satan [etc…]” (exactly as on your site) and we all had a bit of a chuckle because there was no way anyone heard all of those lyrics.
He put the backward lyrics on the projector and played it again and, honestly, everyone (100+ people) heard every single word.
He was demonstrating how the brain wants order and understanding. So what you hear initially is correct: a whole lot of gobbledygook. When the brain has something (lyrics) to connect with that gobbledygook it ‘fills in the gaps’ to make sense of the words.
I find it interesting anyway: whether deliberate, accidental, real, or imagination.
Thanks for putting together this website. I’ve enjoyed listening to all the songs and entertaining my friends with the Led Zepplin lyrics.
Comment posted by penguin_78 at 6/15/2005 5:47 PM (Permalink)
While reading some of the comments I got this idea, what if someone sung the backwards lyrics, recorded that and played it backwards, would the real lyrics be hidden in there?
Comment posted by Purly at 7/22/2005 6:20 AM (Permalink)
just so u know on the japenese pokemon rap thing the "yo" and "yeah" backwards are saying "yes" in japenese
Comment posted by adam at 7/28/2005 2:03 PM (Permalink)
also....on the hotel california backwards it believe it should say: "Satan hears this. He had me believe in me."
Comment posted by adam at 7/28/2005 2:07 PM (Permalink)
hey jeff
i heard all your subliminal messages and ara fasinating but maybe i have something that it may interest you i found some satanic messages to from black sabath and of other groups but specialy from the latinamerican singers if it interest you send me and email.its
rijelmx@msn.com, so i can show you the amreican subliminal messages and the latinamerican subliminal messages.ill be waiting
Rijel.
i heard all your subliminal messages and ara fasinating but maybe i have something that it may interest you i found some satanic messages to from black sabath and of other groups but specialy from the latinamerican singers if it interest you send me and email.its
rijelmx@msn.com, so i can show you the amreican subliminal messages and the latinamerican subliminal messages.ill be waiting
Rijel.
Comment posted by Denkun at 8/10/2005 8:11 PM (Permalink)
Listen to Bob Marley's Dont worry be happy backwords, its crazy
Comment posted by cire6 at 8/16/2005 7:10 PM (Permalink)
Listen to Bob Marley's Dont worry be happy backwords, its crazy
Comment posted by cire6 at 8/16/2005 7:10 PM (Permalink)
I read a book about this... I guess Rush's "Anthem" also has this... the third verse of the song backwards I guess is "Oh satan, my sacrifice you know it is you are the one I love' Or something like that.
Comment posted by Spencer at 8/29/2005 11:48 PM (Permalink)
Hey Jeff! Nice Blog you got here. I Just HAVE To Give You Props.
Well, Let me Introduce Myself. I'm ji0n, ( My Codename On The Net ) And I Stumbled Across Your Blog Through Neopets.com. Us Kids Talk About Just ANYTHING, And One Guy At The Boards Said That There Was This Cool Blog That Presented, "Demonic Songs".
Of Course, I Was Curious, And Then I Was Linked To This Site. I Must Say I Was Impressed, Both As A Fellow Blogger (On Another Site), And As A Mature Kid.
After Listening/Reading Some Of Your Entries, I Was Itching To Contact You, But The Blog Had A Special Block Denying Anonymous Comments.
My Brother Had Heard Of The Britney Spears Thing Before, From, "Scary Movie" , And I Laughed Really Hard When He Explained It! This Blog Presents The Most Accurate, And Detailed Information About Things. You Have More Than Enough Talent To Be A Journalist. A Columnist, I Must Say.
If You Want To contact Me, My email Address Is Ji0n_223@yahoo.com. I Made This Account just To Comment. ^_^
Well, Let me Introduce Myself. I'm ji0n, ( My Codename On The Net ) And I Stumbled Across Your Blog Through Neopets.com. Us Kids Talk About Just ANYTHING, And One Guy At The Boards Said That There Was This Cool Blog That Presented, "Demonic Songs".
Of Course, I Was Curious, And Then I Was Linked To This Site. I Must Say I Was Impressed, Both As A Fellow Blogger (On Another Site), And As A Mature Kid.
After Listening/Reading Some Of Your Entries, I Was Itching To Contact You, But The Blog Had A Special Block Denying Anonymous Comments.
My Brother Had Heard Of The Britney Spears Thing Before, From, "Scary Movie" , And I Laughed Really Hard When He Explained It! This Blog Presents The Most Accurate, And Detailed Information About Things. You Have More Than Enough Talent To Be A Journalist. A Columnist, I Must Say.
If You Want To contact Me, My email Address Is Ji0n_223@yahoo.com. I Made This Account just To Comment. ^_^
Comment posted by ji0n at 9/09/2005 7:29 PM (Permalink)
Try Black Eyed Pea's Songs. Escpecially The, "Don't Lie" One. I Think They'll Say Something There. But I'm Not Sure. I'm Just Guessing By The Tune. ^_^
Comment posted by ji0n at 9/10/2005 10:03 PM (Permalink)
Finding messages in backwards lyrics is similar to finding animal shapes in clouds. If you look at enough clouds, you will eventually find a pretty convincing elephant. Here are my own backwards lyrics for the infamous Stairway to Heaven passage. It comes out as a kind of prayer:
Lord, Lord hears, to mock we'd Satan (though on all-ill path) who'd make me sigh, whose power is fake!
Heal, give those within sick, sick, sick.
They'll want all he'll too share, where he made us offers at fate.
OK, so it doesn't make perfect sense, but neither does the "original." Some parts sound better: for example, the original's first "sweet" is really "queet," which I have as "mock weed." "Sick" is closer phonetically than "6"; and "was a" (little toolshed) has no "s" sound -- I have "want all." We have a tendency to fill in letters, particularly consonants, when we listen.
Here's another possibility, an analogy between the devil and a garden:
Lord, Lord, hear us to mock weed Satan.
The lawn all-ill path, wood maybe sap, whose flower is fake.
Hew, give dose within sip, sip, sip.
They'll all heal, too, share where he made us supper that sate.
You may hear the original more distinctly, or it may be that, having heard it, it's harder to hear it differently.
If I can find a second, or third meaning within the message (and the professor above could find yet another), then it shouldn't surprise anyone that a much larger number of people listening to many songs backwards can find some unintended messages. The fact that people keep coming up with messages about Satan and marijuana means nothing, except to indicate where their minds are at!
I also thought the Yoko Ono quote to be quite funny, given that the song (the flip side of Starting Over) came out when Lennon was still alive.
Lord, Lord hears, to mock we'd Satan (though on all-ill path) who'd make me sigh, whose power is fake!
Heal, give those within sick, sick, sick.
They'll want all he'll too share, where he made us offers at fate.
OK, so it doesn't make perfect sense, but neither does the "original." Some parts sound better: for example, the original's first "sweet" is really "queet," which I have as "mock weed." "Sick" is closer phonetically than "6"; and "was a" (little toolshed) has no "s" sound -- I have "want all." We have a tendency to fill in letters, particularly consonants, when we listen.
Here's another possibility, an analogy between the devil and a garden:
Lord, Lord, hear us to mock weed Satan.
The lawn all-ill path, wood maybe sap, whose flower is fake.
Hew, give dose within sip, sip, sip.
They'll all heal, too, share where he made us supper that sate.
You may hear the original more distinctly, or it may be that, having heard it, it's harder to hear it differently.
If I can find a second, or third meaning within the message (and the professor above could find yet another), then it shouldn't surprise anyone that a much larger number of people listening to many songs backwards can find some unintended messages. The fact that people keep coming up with messages about Satan and marijuana means nothing, except to indicate where their minds are at!
I also thought the Yoko Ono quote to be quite funny, given that the song (the flip side of Starting Over) came out when Lennon was still alive.
Comment posted by rogpy at 9/11/2005 5:36 AM (Permalink)
Subliminal messages rely on the fact that your brain fills in the blanks, and the people creating the know that fact. It's not just the power of suggestion, they're there, it's just that some people need some guidance in hearing them.
Sing the backwards lyrics to the song and record them, then play them in reverse-you'll get the original song. That oughta prove that the subliminals are real. I know, I've done so myself.
Sing the backwards lyrics to the song and record them, then play them in reverse-you'll get the original song. That oughta prove that the subliminals are real. I know, I've done so myself.
Comment posted by Tony at 10/27/2005 1:19 PM (Permalink)
And sing them slow, or they'll just garble up.
Comment posted by Tony at 10/27/2005 1:20 PM (Permalink)
HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAA OMFG! SATAN EATS CHEEZ WHIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL THAT IS SO AMAZING!
Comment posted by SATAN-EATS-CHEEZ-WHIZ at 12/05/2005 10:38 AM (Permalink)
Dude are you mental, your just mixing up words you fagget, your just one of those stupid computer nerds that has nothing else to do then ruin awsome tuneskies, get a life bud. I think you should put highway to hell or something on there, you can actually LISTEN TO THE REAL STUFF INSTEADA JUST MIXIN ALL THE CRAP AROUND
Comment posted by yourgay at 12/17/2005 2:37 PM (Permalink)
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