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Stairway Backwards (Lyrics, Rumors, Possibilities)


ZoSo88

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I know Page said no. So has Plant and Jonesy. I agree with Plant when he said that's not making music. However, I'm just saying what the guy who runs that site said about it in his book and the excerpt from it on his site on Stairway, he said that to him it was not Satanic at all.

Edited by leandar
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I know Page said no. So has Plant and Jonesy. I agree with Plant when he said that's not making music. However, I'm just saying what the guy who runs that site said about it in his book and the excerpt from it on his site on Stairway, he said that to him it was not Satanic at all.

I agree that its not satanic, and will someone please find me where Page said "no" about the backmasking, i've never read or head that before.

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Backmasking is the art of writing lyrics that make sense if heard backwards, yet sound like an ordinary song forwards. Due to the difficulty of such a task, only a few traditional songs were recorded this way - e.g., I've Been Working on the Railroad, which backwards becomes You've Been Sluffing at Your Desk Job, and (I'm Dreaming of a) White Christmas which becomes (You're Giving Me Nightmares of A Black Ramadan. However, with the advent of rock music, backmasking has become much easier: musicians simply record backwards, so that the songs make no sense forwards - no one is the wiser, since few people can make out rock lyrics forwards anyway.

The Beatles

The Beatles were the first rock musicians to attempt backward recordings. The first song they did this way, Rain, when reversed plays jibberish. Pretty soon everyone wanted in on the trend. But few people understood they had to play the record counter-clockwise. Instead they tried to play them vertically, on the underside of turntables, or at a speed of 54 RPM. When they finally figured it out, sales of backmasked Beatles singles soared.

The success was tainted by the Paul is Dead hoax: certain songs contained backwards messages indicating that Paul McCartney had died. Numerous hippies, for example, reported that when they listened to Revolution 9 backwards while stoned, they could clearly hear the line "Yeah I'm dead, so what? Piss off."

Pretty soon fans were finding messages everywhere, especially where there were none. This ultimately led to the Beatles' demise as "clues" were found to indicate they had gone to the devil:

170px-PMCCTY1.jpg magnify-clip.png...and all he really wanted to do was sing about LOVE

  • Abbey Road is said to reverse to Whorehouse Avenue. Fans have found numerous "clues" to support this hypothesis on the album cover: the men are purportedly crossing the street to a corner where they will meet the woman on the back cover; the license plate "LMW 28IF" means "Love My Woman IF you pay 28 pounds"; Lennon is dressed completely in white even though we know he's no virgin; and McCartney is still smoking his cigarette and hasn't even put his shoes back on yet.

  • Paranoia that John Lennon was a communist sympathizer became widespread due to speculations that Backwards in the USSR contained a Russian Reversal.

  • Religious fundamentalists quickly became suspicious of "all those love songs," as Jerry Falwell put it. Falwell was particularly concerned with the song Can't Buy Me Love. "They've got it all backwards," he insisted, "people buy love from me every week."

170px-Lilith.jpg magnify-clip.pngAmy Grant in one of her videos, played backwards Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven supposedly contains the following backwards:

Here's to my sweet Satan

The one whose little path would make me cry, whose power is fake

He'll give those with him 666

There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan[1]

However, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page vehemently denied these rumours, insisting that when Stairway to Heaven was played backwards, it merely played AC/DC's Highway to Hell. Satan could not be reached for comment. All God's spokesperson would say was that the Lord thought the song forwards was a little "sucky."

Christian rock groups eventually fell under the fundamentalist microscope, because it was assumed that if a song has Christian lyrics forwards, they must be Satanic backwards. This ultimately led to the banning of hymns at church services worldwide.

More recently, Sarah McLachlan's song Angel led to the following warning label attached to her album Surfacing:

Warning: Songs may contain subliminal messages that may influence children or adolescents to rebel against parents and other authorities; to begin wearing godawful t-shirts illustrating cult-like symbols, spikes around clothing or in hair, dreadlocked hair, and/or earrings in unusual bodily locations; and/or to break some of the Good Lord's commandments or in some other way fail to conform to Church and parental guidance by thinking for themselves and other heathenly possibilities. The producers, distributers, retailers, and shareholders take no responsibility for anything whatsoever praise the Lord.

Other McLachlan songs suspected of incorporating Satanic themes include Possession and Fallen.

The L7 song Boys in Black has a deliberate backwards message: "All beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Two all beef patties." [2] It sounds like gibberish forward, but tastes wonderful. However, people who have licked the CD backward – in the same direction as the message – agree it tastes like shit.

Edited by SteveAJones
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How do find something Page said. Your claiming he said no to the backmasking rumors, i've never heard that. I've heard Robert deny it, and ive heard Swan Song deny it. You can find those quotes no problem, probably even on wikipedia, it should be just as easy to find Page's if he did infact say it, im just curious.

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its difficult to understand the song's meaning when its played forward much less in reverse. I used to think the line "if we all call the tune" was "if we all call the jews". When I bought the album and read the liner lyrics, I was shocked. :o I'm more interested in who is the "Lady who's sure all that glitters is gold"

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I'm more interested in who is the "Lady who's sure all that glitters is gold"

Just a woman who thinks that pretty things are always expensive and important things. I believe Robert said that the song was about a woman who thought everything was handed to her on a silver platter.

Of all the lines in the song, that is one of the most obvious.

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Just a woman who thinks that pretty things are always expensive and important things. I believe Robert said that the song was about a woman who thought everything was handed to her on a silver platter.

Of all the lines in the song, that is one of the most obvious.

I understand all that. Plant has also said the song is about "a woman's quest for spiritual perfection". I was wondering if the lady was a woman they actually knew. If this was true then she would probably hate the song by now. lol.

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An otherwise annoying thread brought with more than an ounce of conviction,well done. I've read the previous and I will state that the mind will hear what is being heard,that is to say,what you are listening to is what you are getting.Your explanations are based on what you learned,and this you believe to be true,you've made a good case but have a listen to Ozzy Ozbourne's 'Diary of a Madman',that should set you thinking,as it did me.Jimmy Page has come clean (years ago) and said there were no messages on STH except what you can hear,this is only part of Rock and Roll folklore eg;Stones-For their satanic Majesties,and a plethora of others.Look,if the bastards are gonna secrete some backmasking on a CD can they put a warning on the label......please !(thanks for the thread Zoso88)

Edited by Ross62
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Holy Fuck, not again..

What's next...

Some backward passages of Celebration Day being about Pantagruel...

The solution for Barjavel's Secret in Four Sticks??

I'm always amaze to see there's still people believing this kind of bollocks!

Okay, look at all the points i made with the very first post on this thread and please do tell why you think all of those points might not be true. And please try to cover all the mentioned reasons why people have said it is true, and just give us your take on why you believe its b/s.

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well, have you heard the song backward without reading the "lyrics" of it?

I did, more than once, and never, me or the friends, have heard the lyrics we're suposed to hear...

And, frankly... how much time do you think it would take for Plant to write lyrics for a normal listening and a reverse listening? He would still be working on it to this day...

The same thing have been said about Hotel California...

I still think it's a load of bollocks and I don't feel the needs to refute all the points you've made...

Edited by Charles_Obscure
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Yeah, if one more person tells me Hotel California is about Satan, Satanism or anything like that, I'm going to laugh myself so hard, I'll puke on their shoes. The song is metaphor. They likened Hollywood and the Hollywood lifestyle to a luxury hotel. A hotel whose amenities trap you and keep you chained to your vices.

People read waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far into things for their own good.

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Now I KNOW you're really that Bill guy who kept PMing me to tell me how much he loved the Eagles.

Sorry, the more you confuse me with other posters from other boards the more I'm convinced you really don't know much. You see, after 22 years, to include over a

decade online, using the same name, if you don't know me by now you never will.

Those here who matter to me have no doubt.

Edited by SteveAJones
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This thread has been quite an interesting read I must say. I thought it was just going to be another 'have you listened to Stairway backwards, it's Satanic' kind of thread. But thankfully it has been presented quite well with some well thought out arguments. Of course I think its all bullshit! Listen to the song forwards...that's the whole point of music!!! :lol:

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If the lyrics are the backmasking masterpiece by Plant from the beginning to end...

... then can you explain why the lyrics were different at the early rehearsals?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Maybe we need to reverse them too.

disclaimer: I'm not gonna waste my time trying this, so don't blame me if you do.

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First, I'd like to thank LZ517 for digging up and posting my desription of Thelema and Page's use of ritual magick. Cheers!

I'd just like to add that as a Thelemite, Page was obviously not a Satanist. Why would a Thelemite write messages to Satan? It makes no sense from a motivation standpoint, regardless of whether it's possible. Now if the message were in praise of Isis, that would make sense, but Satan? No. He might as well be praising the tooth fairy.

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I asked Angi for it and she gave it to me. Thanks Angi! But you're welcome. I had to get it, I also saved it on my computer so I can tell all the people that ask in case you aren't here. I can't put up with the Jimmy worships Satan crap.

Edited by lzfan715
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