Paul McCartney said you can hear a vulgar message when you play one of The Beatles’ songs Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band backwards. However, he indicated that this was not the intention of The Beatles. Here’s what happened when Paul played one of The Beatles’ most famous songs backwards – and why he decided to do it in the first place.
Paul McCartney on alleged hidden meanings in The Beatles’ Abbey Road ‘and’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ‘
During a 1974 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul discussed how fans found many hidden meanings in The Beatles’ work. For example, he said that some people’s cover Abbey Road contained clues revealing that he died. He said it was easy to see hidden meanings in things when looking for hidden meanings.
Then he discussed backmasking. Backmasking is the phenomenon where artists place backward messages in their songs. While there are some examples of deliberate backmasking, sometimes fans hear messages in tracks played backwards that the artist didn’t intentionally put there. For example, Paul admitted that one of the songs was off Sgt. Pepper sounded like it had some vulgar lyrics when played backwards, although he wasn’t aware of this until after the album was finished.
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What Paul McCartney heard when he heard The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper ‘in reverse
“Then that little bit when you play it backwards,” he said. “Like I said, nine times out of ten it’s really nothing. Take the end of Sgt. Pepper, that retarded thing, “We’ll fuck you like Supermen.” For context, the last number on Sgt. Pepper is “A day in the life”.
“Some fans came to my door giggling,” recalls Paul. ‘They said,’ Is it true, that bit at the end? Is it true? It says, “We’ll fuck you like Supermen.” ‘I said,’ No, you’re kidding. I didn’t hear it, but I’ll play it. ‘It was just a piece of conversation recorded and vice versa. “
Paul decided to play the song backwards. “But I went in after seeing them and played it eagerly, spinning it backwards with my thumb against the engine, turned the engine off and reversed it,” he revealed. And there it was, certainly as everything else, as plain as anything. “We’ll fuck you like Supermen.” I thought, Jesus, what can you do? “
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Paul McCartney discussed the reverse lyrics in The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper ‘many years later
This was not the only time Paul discussed this part of “A Day in the Life.” He later mentioned it in the 1998 book Paul McCartney: Over Many YearsThere, he revealed that he had fans come to his house for tea where they would treat him like a guru.
During one of these gatherings, he learned that he could hear a vulgar phrase if he played ‘A Day in the Life’ in reverse. In Paul McCartney: Over Many Years, Paul said you can probably hear messages in anything you play backwards. The reverse message from “A Day in the Life” was unintentional, but it’s still fascinating that it’s there.
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