Backmasking Essay

There are some cases of back masking that cannot be determined wither or not they were intentional instances or just a coincidence, for example Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven”. When the song is played forward it is “If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, it's just a spring clean for the May queen. Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on.” Which sounds normal enough, in reverse the lines sound like “'Oh here's to my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan. He'll give those with him 666, there was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.” There is clearly a huge difference between the lines forward and backward however it cannot be determined wither it was intentional or not. I believe it was intentional because the lines forward although sounding normal have a very odd word choice. That means that they had to pick odd sounding words to insure that the back masked message was still audible. This is one of the most famous examples and yet nobody has been able to discover if it was deliberate or not. There are songs that have reverse speech solely by coincidence. Eminem’s “My Name Is” is an example of this. Forward he says “Hi! My name is... (what?) My name is... (who?) My name is... {scratches} Slim Shady. Hi! My name is... (huh?) My name is... (what?) My name is... {scratches} Slim Shady.” In reverse he says “It is Slim. It's Eminem, it's Eminem, it's Eminem. It is Slim. It's Eminem, it's Eminem, it's Eminem.” I believe that this instance was a coincidence and others believe that one subconsciously says things in reverse before they are actually said. However I would agree that this is a coincidence and not a deliberate action by Eminem. With so much suspicion, controversy, and rumors surrounding every song accused of back masking it will be hard to discover the truth about them. Some songs people can understand the writer’s intention like “Empty Spaces” but others like “Stairway to Heaven” may be shrouded in secrecy forever. Intentional or not these examples are interesting allowing insight to a songwriters thought process and the subconscious mind.