Backwards Vocals

From Blueberry Boat

alc4tchitro

Contents 1 EP 1.1 Tropical Ice-Land 2 Bitter Tea 2.1 In My Little Thatched Hut 2.2 I'm in No Mood 2.3 Black-hearted Boy 2.4 The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry 2.5 Oh Sweet Woods 3 Holy Ghost Language School

EP

Tropical Ice-Land

And if you ever need some hash or weed (backwards)
You won't be gettin' it here
Just take a boat across the bumpy sea
Go to Denmark, man, oh it's so near (backwards)

(sung forwards in Gallowsbird's Bark version)

Bitter Tea

In My Little Thatched Hut

(Matthew):
Tears of joy, tears of joy
(Yoj fo sraet, Yoj fo sraet)

I'm in No Mood

(Sung by Matthew):
I swear the pin in my hair got stuck in my head
I didn’t even undress for bed
I was so drunk last night
I swear the pin in my hair got stuck in my head
I didn’t even undress for bed
I was so drunk last night

Black-hearted Boy

See the smoke from your kiln
(the rest of the verse up until...)
Go dangle your fish hook out in the gutter again

The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry

(Eleanor):
Damn it all, damn it all
(Matthew):
Damn it all, damn it all to hell
So vile, so violent
This life is…

Oh Sweet Woods

(Matthew):
Farewell direction, farewell all affection
Oh sweet woods a delight of solitariness
How much I do like your solitariness
(Eleanor):
I sang in my heart a sad song

From Wikipedia: The album contains various Backmasking throughout. The tracklist below summarizes what the lyrics are when played backwards in each song. Words in "quotes" are the lyrics, and numbers in (parentheses) are where in the song the vocals occur. Some of these are simply other parts of the song played backwards, while others are solely found in reverse, ie; Track 8: Oh Sweet Woods.

  1. In My Little Thatched Hut= “Tears Of Joy” sung over and over. (~3:00)
  2. I'm in No Mood= “And the pin in my hair was stuck in my head. I didn’t undress for bed. I was so drunk last night.” (2:10)
  3. Black-Hearted Boy= “See the smoke from your kiln pine boughs burn the bricks dead hard in their fog as I stand cold with my back broke by the bog. Find your cross cut saw- come blunt and jagged dry and try cut my tongue out to keep on your wall up high. I tipped my toe on the bamboo strip; I took stone honey in exchange for my rags. Don't dare paint your board moonlight white-” (2:56-3:56)
  4. The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry=[whole song from end to start] “I thought myself an unworthy thing, despairing of my case all the time boys. I thought myself an unworthy thing, despairing of my case all the time boys. Damn it all, damn it all to hell. Damn it all, damn it all.” (Much of the backwards vocals sound backwards when played forward! Meaning that they are probably not anything, but it is possible they are clever speed changes making it hard to decode. Probably not.)
  5. Oh Sweet Woods= “Oh sweet woods of delight, Oh solitariness. Fairwell direction, fairwell all affection” (0:44 and 3:01)
  6. Nevers= Most of the lyrics are backwards, and it's almost like they are alternating forward and backwards vocals saying; theres a town I know called Nevers, no nevers etc…, like #7. The lyrics are online.
  7. Benton Harbor Blues= Around (3:45), there are some brilliant jibberish phrases played forward and backward over each other, causing it to sound the exact same when played backwards. (no real words though. Sounds slightly like the next lyric, “But when I think back” but isn’t.

Holy Ghost Language School