Comments on: Backmasking – a ‘Meat City’ example

By: Happy Nat

Happy Nat — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:20:23 +0000

Hi John. With the title of the track ‘Meat City’, eat like a pig would certainly fit, so you could be right. I’ll leave it up to the listeners to decide what’s right.

By: John

John — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:32:28 +0000

I think you might be off a little on that…the 45 says”check the album”….the album says”eat like a”….(slowed down foward)…then backwards is “like a pig”…I think they were trying to get “eat like a pig”…thats my take…keep up the great work….I love this website

By: Happy Nat

Happy Nat — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:23:35 +0000

Yep, I know what you mean John, thanks for the input…

By: John Aveni

John Aveni — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:58:30 +0000

I figured this out when I was a kid in the 1970s, by playing the original single backwards and then running to K-Mart to purchase and “check the album.”

I’m so glad my mom wasn’t in the room when I checked the album, but I was smart enough to know that John might be up to something, so I checked it quietly.

I remember checking it old-school, by removing the rubber drive band from my turntable, spinning it backwards by pressing my finger on the center of the record and approximating the rpm. This technique gave the vocal an ethereal sound, since it’s not really possible to reverse it at a steady rpm.

Anyway, sorry to comment belatedly, but I just heard Meat City again and decided to Google to see if anyone else was aware of this. Brings back memories of happier times, before Lennon was shot. Also makes me feel really old…

By: Marcelo

Marcelo — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:08:14 +0000

“Fuck that pig”/”check the album” Cool, so cool!
Thanks, Happy Nat!

By: Happy Nat

Happy Nat — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:56:23 +0000

YW Stacia.

By: Happy Nat

Happy Nat — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:55:29 +0000

That’s great info too Elliott. Maybe we can hear these one of these days.

By: Elliott Marx

Elliott Marx — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:31:00 +0000

I always heard the backward track, but never bothered to play it in reverse. I certainly never heard the single version – quite illuminating. Strangely enough, just last night I was reading about John and Roy Cicala’s relationship; apparently John produced 3 or 4 tracks, all remain unreleased, for Roy’s wife Lori Burton. She is one of the background singers on #9 Dream. One of the unreleased tracks was a cover of Let’s Spend the Night Together.

Thanks for the new information.

By: Stacia

Stacia — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:20:00 +0000

I had NO idea that a) there was backwards stuff on Meat City and b) that the B-side version on the 45 was different from the album version. Thank you!