The Beatles In Their Own (Back-)Words

[Curtis Eagal]

I did not upload any of the videos linked in this post (the titles are as appearing on YouTube), but I added my comments that are reproduced here.

There is a transcription for a forwards cryptic portion added as a bonus.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoWfYvWe7zU

Tomorrow Never Knows Reversed

Paul McCartney told Bob Costas in a 1991 interview, "We could've had a really Satanic message, and with the power WE had - boy, you know, we could've made quite a difference the OTHER way. But we always chose NOT to do that: Nobody was remotely interested in that." The reversed messages in Tomorrow Never Knows manifest this renunciation of the dark forces, and express the need for the divine power of the Saviour Lord Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual wickedness. I had published the entire transcription in a discontinued book entitled "REVERSER," focusing on the Revolver album, where the band first used backwards tapes; that could be re-released under a new title to include material created subsequent to the Revolver LP. The line I'm choosing for a sample here starts at 1:11:

'There's a fallen DEMON named Lucifer'

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd52dw6PI0w

Strawberry Fields Forever Reversed

At 1:09 and frequently,

'Now they're COMPLETELY reversed!'

According to a sound engineer, after the Revolver LP sessions The Beatles requested backwards playback of their studio takes: here a prominent message was that the songs had separate forward and reverse meanings, as a new innovation. At a Beatles symposium a panelist who had attended a White Album session recounted a heated discussion between band members concerning how a lyric change would affect the reverse song being simultaneously composed.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tCdHGa2keI

Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove Reversed

First, since this sample fades in, it is neither the loop repeating as heard when the stylus is trapped in the vinyl groove, nor the entire brief original recording that took an entire session, which was available on the Parlophone mono version cd, but does not repeat. This seems a non-endless representation of the loop repeating for another cd version; when the vinyl disc was cut, only most of the snippet fit the inner groove. It has been revealed Paul McCartney was using the phrase "I never could speak any other way" forwards, but that was apparently a distorted sound-alike for the intended message; George Harrison also says something significant in the background, emerging in an incomplete form for the vinyl disc cut. When fans insisted they had heard an obscenity by playing it backwards, it was distressing to Ringo Starr, who expressed futility, and asserted closer listening should bring the realization they were trying to say something nice. Without disclosing the forward meanings, Harrison's part, or what was in the truncated portion, I can offer here the baby-step of correcting the previous mishearing: fans presume the group was hypersexual and supremely conceited, warping expectations. They were more likely humbly sublimating themselves - instead of 'We'll (expletive) you like we're Supermen,' the reversed message sounds closer to, 'You KNOW we can't be supermen.' John Lennon was once crushingly quoted as saying if he got big-headed all he had to do was look at Ringo to know they weren't supermen. I have also heard a strange variant out-take version that reverses to, 'We can't be TRUE supermen.'

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz-naiRcjXI

Penny Lane Reversed

The choral part reversed bears a message so utterly sublime I am reluctant to disclose it, but there is a whimsical part that fans might appreciate as relating to their touring days, at 1:10 -

'Here's to the populace of San Diego:
There and Paris all the bed linen is fresh at night'

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63vFgSKDPoc

Magical Mystery Tour Reversed

The basic message in this song reversed was slyly hinted at by McCartney while appearing to merely comment on their early days, looking back at the group objectively, so a transcription would match those remarks. The barker opening continues the joke, representing a mock introduction by Ed Sullivan, ironically arriving at the end backwards. The part I'll reveal here is at 2:12:

'And - when we did something musical,
We would sing the next number!'

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYF30DOEMdY

Happiness Is A Warm Gun Reversed

The six repetitions of "Mother Superior jump the gun" reverse to 'Mocked at my theory of Christendom' 1:10 to 1:30

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXdRI-mtz1A

The Beatles - Hey Jude (Reversed)

A panelist at a Beatles symposium who had attended a White Album session recounted overhearing a heated discussion among the band members about how a lyric change would affect the reverse song they were simultaneously composing. So I closely studied the tracks that way, starting with the Revolver songs. This one seems to have clues to the backwards meaning in its forward lyrics: "let her under your skin" is one; "the movement you need is on your shoulder" is another. The long coda with tortured screaming also fits the reverse message, which is independent of the subliminal forward meaning. The title turned backwards becomes 'Fore-skin': it is easiest to hear in the opening part (end of the reversed track) - at 6:45 here, 'Try a thick and moist - Fore-skin... Now wrap - the penis - don't snip on it.' The US and UK both promoted circumcision circa the 1870s, but while in America it was considered a status symbol done to infants, the British clipped sailors, who complained, and the practice was discontinued. John Lennon in his nude photo with Yoko for Two Virgins left no doubt he was intact.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiTM0zNx9PU

Carry That Weight Reversed

GOD -
LOVES MARTYRDOM -
But He blots his name -
When he LIKES To Martyr!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQrEb9LIb4k&t=159s

John Lennon Give Peace A Chance Reversed

It's a peace message backwards too: from 0:33 there are repetitions of "All we are saying - Is Give Peace A Chance" that reverse to

'LET'S stop creating -
THIS - sodding war!'

It is a stronger anti-war message, particularly since 'sodding' is a British expletive.

* {The forwards cryptic bit bonus:}

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhS_G1K3cv8&t=195s

THe Unsolved Mysteries of The Beatles' Wildest Song

The distorted vocal bit works with the subliminal message in the basic melody (which won't be given here), it appears to be George still in lead vocal, yet altered and double-tracked, like a recurring superimposed edit piece. One might recall the caption attributed to McCartney on the Two Virgins cover, about two great saints meeting (applicable to John and Yoko) producing a humbling experience. The subtext of It's All Too Much appears to surprisingly be humility itself, with George oddly and emphatically declaring (at 2:46 in this presentation),

"WE - DON'T - GIVE -
Harrison -
The name 'Saint'!"

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[Curtis Eagal]

A few more examples of the sorts of messages that can be easily heard when playing the records backwards, part of one had already been transcribed correctly in my opinion. --


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpoY3awRPmY&t=86s

I Am The Walrus Reversed

At 2:08, ending a thought,

'...that's my favorite philosophy'

A Messianic projection immediately follows with,

'First of all,

He's gonna take simony out of business'

Simony is the commercial bartering of spiritual things, historically typified by the Catholic Church selling indulgences.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyYrip5j-As&t=159s

Helter Skelter Reversed

[Here a poster had heard, "An accident." as I had myself - so I replied with the subsequent line:]

..Will happen, eventu'lly

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68oFp5LoL74

The Radical Innovations of the Perfect Beatles Song

[Concerning the song Rain, replying to a poster who seemed to be saying the guitar work there was backwards:]

The guitar work on Rain was played super-fast with increased tape speed, so with slowed normal-speed playback it would have a languid sound texture. John said he had threaded the reel tape wrong from the session (smoking something was blamed) and went wild about how his reversed lead vocal sounded (later explaining, 'I was transfixed by the whole thing'), but they had also perfected the 'accidental' feedback sound opening I Feel Fine in late 1964. The lyrics being meaningful in both directions was evident to a visitor at the White Album sessions, attesting in a panel I attended that such a discussion ensued over a lyric change. Both John Lennon and George Martin claimed the idea of including part of the reversed vocal track in the end, likely John had compromised from wanting to release the entire track backwards to insisting 'I want that on the fade!' Producer Martin recalled editing a bit of the vocal track 'until it fitted,' so the lyrics weren't a direct lift, which changed the backwards meaning from what's repeated in the song proper to a variant, the brief sequence starting with, 'It's better than...' I have a transcription for the rest, which was abridged from my discontinued book "Reverser" for a reason.

[RJKe...@yahoo.com]

Thanks for all the info. I had always the lead guitar in "Rain" was on fact backward.

[Curtis Eagal]

My pleasure, this is one of the most intriguing features of their latter period song catalog, allowing for hearing their own voices obviously conveying unexpected statements. As I wrote, an astounding compendium of these quite clear transcriptions were determined many years ago, and even if I do eventually publish them, some will be deliberately abridged. But concerning the guitar work, I can say here that if "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is played in reverse, the solo, which was played by Eric Clapton, can be heard to wail at one point, 'Sacred Heart'!

John Lennon was quoted he was trying to make the guitar talk, and that having it flow out would be easier than trying to drop expectations ("You have to break down your barriers") and simply hear what was intended. The first song opening their debut album, "I Saw Her Standing There," has a rambling lead guitar solo, which seems to peak when matching how a human voice would sound when articulating, 'At The Right Hand Of The Trinity,' a reference to the Christian Creed regarding Christ's Ascension into Heaven.

Lennon made his rhythm guitar take the lead role in the style of Wilson Pickett for "You Can't Do That." McCartney had his bass directly injected into the mixing console for "Paperback Writer," making his own instrument unusually dominant. I've recently published "The Quality Of Mersey," about the "Beatles For Sale" era and sessions - George Harrison argued to not be supplanted as lead guitarist on "I'll Follow The Sun," the solo for which was so brief it had scant opportunity for him to shine, then he delivered a stellar lead guitar performance on Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" in a singe take.