https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/ en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:18:49 GMT vBulletin 60 images/misc/rss.png https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/ https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309197-backwards-messages-in-songs-%E2%80%93-80s-90s-playground-myth-or-real-thing Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:09:13 GMT
I’m sure this was one of those things that spread around school playgrounds and older siblings’ record collections. You’d hear that if you played certain tracks backwards, there were hidden messages buried in them.

Bands like The Beatles were always at the centre of it—especially the whole “Paul is dead” thing—and I definitely remember people mentioning Revolution 9 as one to try.

Then there was Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, which seemed to come up all the time whenever this topic was mentioned. I don’t think anyone I knew had actually done it properly—but everyone knew someone who had

And of course, this was all in the days of:

• Trying to spin a vinyl backwards without scratching it
• Holding down rewind on a cassette and guessing where to stop
• Or just listening really hard and convincing yourself you could hear something!

I’ve also read that some bands like Electric Light Orchestra and Pink Floyd actually did mess around with reverse audio on purpose—but probably more as a joke than anything sinister.

So I’m curious:

• Did anyone here ever actually try playing a song backwards back then?
• Were there any specific tracks you remember being talked about?
• Or was it all just one big case of us hearing what we thought we should hear?

Feels like one of those classic pre-internet mysteries that everyone half-believed at the time.

Would be great to hear what others remember! Also, any funny ones that aren’t supposed to actually say anything — so it comes out gibberish?
]]> Songs TubThumper https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309197-backwards-messages-in-songs-%E2%80%93-80s-90s-playground-myth-or-real-thing https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309091-misheard-lyrics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:46:17 GMT

I’ll kick things off:

When I was 8 or 9, I thought that in the chorus of the song ‘Sit Down’ by James, they were actually singing “Oh Sadam, Oh Sadam” instead of “Oh sir down, Oh sit down”. This was in reference to Sadam Hussain, as I was aware of Gulf War at that tender age. I thought they wrote a song about him.

For years, my dad got the lyrics wrong to ‘Headlong’ by Queen. He kept singing “Get your rushing hands off” instead of “And your rushing Headlong”. It annoyed me so much.

Would love to hear yours—especially the ones you were convinced were right for years.

Bonus points if it completely changed the meaning of the song
]]> Songs TubThumper https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309091-misheard-lyrics https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309064-songs-you-didn%E2%80%99t-understand-as-a-kid-but-definitely-do-now%E2%80%A6 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:51:48 GMT
I spent years thinking “Every Breath You Take” was a nice, romantic song… turns out it’s essentially about stalking.

Also assumed “Summer of ’69” was just a bloke reminiscing about a particular year. Bit naive in hindsight.

And somehow “Relax” was just a catchy tune on the radio that nobody thought to question.

Makes you wonder what else completely went over our heads at the time.

What songs did you only properly understand years later?
]]> Songs TubThumper https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309064-songs-you-didn%E2%80%99t-understand-as-a-kid-but-definitely-do-now%E2%80%A6 https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309012-a-sad-emotive-british-indie-song-from-the-90s Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:37:50 GMT
It's a male singer and very ballady but still indie sounding. I could sing it if it helped, but the words fail me. The only lyric I recall is something like "things will be better when we were young." (which is probably wrong as it doesn't make sense)sung three times then lots of high notes, almost falsetto. The band name had the word BLUE or OYSTER in it. It wasn't blue oyster cult as Grok keeps telling me. Nor was it OYSTERBAND. It was firmly 90s. It wasn't the Bluetones or BLUE. It wasn't a famous band at all. So not DEACON BLUE.

That was the only time I heard that song on the radio, when I taped it. And they never had another one of the radio etc. But it was a FANTASTIC and miserable song.

I actually tracked the song down already, maybe ten years ago but flipping lost track of it!

Anyone?

update...there is a site that lets you upload a song and then it names it. I'll try that if you guys can't help. I'm not much of a good singer and the song is all high notes. I suppose I could pitch shift it.]]> Songs albie https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/forum/music/songs/309012-a-sad-emotive-british-indie-song-from-the-90s