Stairway to Heaven Backwards [The full version]

Written by Amatocianmonk
2008-07-03
I know that this one will be controversial, but we have all heard that there are backwards messages in the classic led zeppelin song "stairway to heaven". Here at amatoc industries, we decided to put these claims to the test. But we took this to the extreme, we searched for every possible backwards message. Thats right, we reversed the entire song and did our best to interpret backwards vocals. The act of putting a backwards message into a song is known as back masking and led zeppelin's "Stairway to heaven" is the most famous example of it. Some people think that these reversed lyrics are secret satanic messages or subliminal messages about satanic worship. It doesnt really appear that way, however. If what we got out of it is on the right track, then it is a much better backwards song than that. Below is the video for the backwards stairway to heaven.

Stairway to heaven reversed.

The lyrics are as follows:

Hear why its song here oppsitioner
Ohhh....
All on track, all arriving!
They all sing and they are one.
Shall i loath you now parishioner?
Oh hear him! Christian within me!
Oh it stirs my sin in the river.
She swells with our lousiness
Will all of life end for him?
We're all out of signs, i know sorta shocked..
I know my god now will save me!
...
ohhhhh...
I will never be saved, because i live with Satan.
One wish today is that you'll all pray for three who'll make it hear late.
Pray now and you'll see,
the lord turned me down.
But oh was i the 'shaggy' fool, clothed in agony and lost at a height.
oh woah ohhh
There's no escaping it.
Nor his woes.
Here's to my sweet satan.
There was a little path which made me sad
Who's power is satan?
He'll give those with him 666.
There was an evil toolshed where he made us suffer sadly,
....
Family won't get loose, less they're offered me
That always soothes the worker.
It will always be as we know now.
"I see ruins" he said to who the world they offered me.
Who wished the lords fall?
If we lose father, say you'll save me.
And no whims can bend the rules...
And no whims can do....
Don't hunt next to the shore 'cause they see all from there!
See, here's the news who walks with mute grief.
Perhaps no one found thee?
"Heaven lift me out!", spake the brave
Son, they've failed. We'll loose one line up, they gotta leave forsaken.
ohwoahohwoah....
And no whims can do...
And no whims can do...
...
He, to who say the lords, "Thoth have our laws? That must be superb, mass is ended"
Over there is he who should learn thee...
Any moot that serves by my sworn music,
i wish it with snow be shushed.
All for my masses sake.
Hear why its sung here oppsitioner.
ohohhoooo...
He who should show, may make his show worthy.
To look for us... odd.. sickly...
There's one chance, take his show.
Hear why it's sung here oppsitioner.
Who owns this earth built below?
Oh sweet Israel.

Assuming that these lyrics are partially right, then this backwards song tells a pretty deep story. From what we can tell it seems as if it starts off with some type of religious gathering. This coming from the lines "They all sing, and they are one", "Oh hear him, Christian within me". But for some reason, sin gets stirred up in either the gathering, or just in an individual, whereupon he starts to get angry at the parishioner, talking about sin, ending life. Perhaps it is at this point in the story that the group or individual takes on satanic practices (from the line "i will never be saved because i live with Satan"). It is possible that the next line, about the three who will make it here late refers to the holy trinity? It says the lord let him/them down and then explains more about it ("was i the shaggy fool, lost at a height...") then the song says "So here's to my sweet Satan" as if after being let down by god, they took up a satanic faith....
However, Satan makes them/him suffer (the tool shed line). At this point, the people/person decide that they want to return to Christianity (i say Christianity because of the "hear him Christian within me" line). They start to read out of the bible. Im not sure where in it the "family wont get loose" line is. But the line about ruins my refer to jesus in the temple. The line "If we lose father, say you'll save me" may refer to roman persecution. The line "Dont hunt next to the shore 'cause they see all from there" is an interesting one, and we think that hunting next to the shore refers to fishing and the line has to do with the apostles that Jesus found while they were fishing. Not too sure about the mute grief line, but we are pretty sure that "perhaps no one found thee?" refers to whoever is walking with mute grief. "Heaven lift me out" may again refer to roman persecution.
It then appears to go into moses. "Thoth have our laws?" seems to refer to the ten commandments. It is then followed with "over there is he who should learn thee" which would seem to mean take the laws and teach it to the freed slaves that were with moses. The line "To look for us... odd... sickly" seems to be the people or person that went satanic, then back to Christian thinking that it is odd that god would look for him/them, and (referring to the line above that) they don't feel worthy.
"Who owns this earth built below? Oh sweet Israel", seems to say that Israel is the promise land and that it owns the earth.

This is all of course not official by led zeppelin or anyone. Just our analysis of our interpretation of the backwards vocals of the song "Stairway to heaven".
Please don't feel like we are satanic, religious, fanatics, or destroying a 'good' song. We just wanted to explore the claims about backmasking in the song, and then analyze the results.
If you feel like you have better lyrics for a part or a better analysis, post it in a comment for us =]

Tabi says:
2008-09-02

Let me just say first, good job. This is amazing and actually does seem to fit nicely with the song. =]

I love Led Zeppelin. I cant listen to this song the normal way now without hearing this version in my head.

Randy says:
2008-12-21

At the line there was an eveil toolshead were he made us suffer sadly. i belive it says he made us suffer sad satan.
i also had played this in reverse before without lyrics and i could clearly here the vese stating at heres to my sweet satan to the toolshead line is comleatly clear. but just wanted put my 2 cents in

Speck says:
2009-11-08

this is crazy! i had heard of the backwards stuff but this blew my mind!!!

boaz says:
2009-12-08

why doesnt nobody see the real thing here??they were not satanic they just wanted to exposed all those..

he says:
who owns this earth built below? oh sweet israel..
all for my masses sake;
there's one chance ,take his show;
hear why its sung here oppositioner..

so heres to my sweet satan;
i want to live in backwards like the zep, whose power is satan,.
(there was a little toolshed where he made us suffer sadly)

COME ON PEOPLE DONt YA SEE IT NOW¡?*
FUCK ISRAEL

Steve f says:
2010-01-06

Would singing these reverse lyrics onto a recording turn back into the right version if the reverse recording was reversed? Hope that wasn't confusing just sceptical.

Amatocianmonk says:
2010-01-06

Yes. If you could sing the reverse lyrics in the same manor that they are in the reversed version, and reversed that, you would get the original song.
However, you cannot simply say the backwards lyrics and reverse them to get out stairway to heaven. You must remember that when something is sung, different words run together and different pauses/breaks/sounds exist. As such, to be able to get the original song back, your singing would have to match the style of singing that exists in the backwards version.

Anonymous says:
2010-01-08

You missed the most important clue of all. The very first thing you hear in YOUR recording above is: "run backwards, hear words sung".

Anonymous says:
2010-01-08

Evidence suggests this was intentional, otherwise these lyrics are simply too nonsensical, they must have been chosen and sung slightly slurred with odd pitch changes *because* this would have meaning backwards. Here are the actual lyrics:
If there's a bustle in your hedge row 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.

My interpretation (more accurate than yours above IMHO):
Glory, oh here's to my sweet satan
The one little child would make me sad whose power is satan
He'll give those in him 666
And all the evil fools they know he made us suffer sad satan

Re-listen to that "evil tool shed" part and see if my interpretation above isn't more applicable.

conspiracy_theorist says:
2010-01-26

I think that all of this is nonsense. I see a freaking conspiracy in everything, but stuff like this takes it a little too far. Damn, some people will search for a hidden meaning in anything and everything. Not everything has it's roots in some diabolical scheme. Some things are exactly what they seem, and this is just a fantastic song. Nothing more, nothing less.

autumn says:
2010-02-10

here i got some awsome lyrics 4 this song here they are the devil is gay in every way la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

autumn says:
2010-02-10

here i got some awsome lyrics 4 this song here they are the devil is gay in every way la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa god will rule hes not cruel la la la la laaaaaa.god is cool he will rule his awsome kingdom.the devil is going down

Amatocianmonk says:
2010-02-12

uh... yeah autumn.... some good lyrics there...

Biff says:
2010-02-12

The only one you got right was "oh." What a bunch of BS.

darious folder says:
2010-02-15

as being Rob's uncle, my nephew (plant) was and still is deeply spiritually driven, if you analyze his solo albums like "dreamland" ALL songs can be translated backwards in French and Russian, lyrics about living in a storm of darkness, his Christian perspective was enacted through all of the songs.

Geof says:
2010-03-26

So cool, so true.......thanks for ur work

billy bob joe says:
2010-03-26

this is bull shit and led zeplin is the bomb so shut the fuck up just beacas jimmy page was satanic dos't say anything about the rest of the band

anonymous says:
2010-03-27

You're wrong in your interpretation with regard to "Thoth," and the words that follow it.

It's not saying:

"He, to who say the lords, 'Thoth have our laws? That must be superb, mass is ended ...'"

What it is saying is:

"He, who say to the lords, 'Thoth have our laws? Ma'at must be superb. Mass is ended ...'"

And you do know what ancient world empire from which the gods Thoth and Ma'at come, don't you?

A hint: You could be at least partially right in your surmisal about the Ten Commandments, because the gods Thoth and Ma'at were two of the principal gods that enslaved the Hebrews.

They aren't from Greece, I'll just leave it at that.

And how odd it is that this song was recorded in Aleister Crowley's old Boleskine House, which sits on Loch Ness. Jimmy Page bought the house and lived in it for about 20 years.

Crowley was good at calling demons forth, but he didn't have the power to put them back away.

Hmmm ...

chris says:
2010-04-17

come on there is no way they did this the full song is like 20 minutes long, now who would sit there for that long trying to make it all sound like something to do with satan you would have to sit there and sing each word in to a tape recorder and you would have to go through all of the words ever made to go trough every word in the dictionary backwards

seriously get your head out of your ass

Alex says:
2010-04-25

You could sing the backwards lyrics, play that backwards, see what that sounds like, and then sing that in the regular song

Amatocianmonk says:
2010-04-27

Alex, actually my band does want to try this when we have free time. I think it would be a really good proof of concept.

However, the issue is that to get Stairway to heaven back after reversing such a song would require that you sing EXACTLY the way it it sounds reversed, which is hard. All of the sounds rise near the end because that is the start of each word, not the beginning. The words trail and cut at different points that change from the way we normally speak and sing (opposite of them actually)

Alex Mendez says:
2010-06-03

Go Led Zeppellin and Satan!

Chip Hamm says:
2010-06-09

There is no denying it's beauty. If there wasn't a Stairway Backwards It would be necessary to create one.