If I told you, I'd have to kill you

Those in the know tuned in to their wirelesses every night and on hearing ‘Les saglots longs/ Des violins/ De l’automne/ Blessent mon Coeur/ D’une langeur/ Monotone’ they knew that the landings were imminent. Which struck me as extremely brilliant, and also got me thinking about secret messages.

Now the only secret code fact I know off the top of my head is that at the beginning of the credits of the TV series Inspector Morse, Morse’s first name is sounded out in Morse code. It’s Endeavour in case you’re wondering and, as far as I can remember, is never revealed in an episode.

This also reminded me of the messages that are apparently hidden in Disney films. We’ve all heard the classic urban myth about ‘sex’ being spelt out in leaves in The Lion King. The internet is frustratingly inconclusive on this one and as I seem to have lost my copy of this particular classic somewhere during puberty I can’t be any more help.

There is however conclusive evidence of the geeks at Disney subliminally corrupting the minds of the worlds’ children. In the background of one scene of The Rescuers there’s a photo of a real life naked lady - ooh-er!!

The other branch of popular culture that is subject to secret message conspiracy theories is music. Back in 1969 a Beatles fan apparently noticed that if you play ‘Revolution 9’ and ‘I’m so tired’ backwards you’ll hear confirmation of a rumour that Paul McCartney died in the late 60s and was replaced by a look and sound alike. The ‘Paul is Dead’ theory then became massive all over the world.

The Beatles aren’t the only ones to have engaged in a spot of Backmasking (recording sound one way and reversing it when it’s included in the track). A quick search of some quality internet conspiracy sites leaves us with: ‘It’s fun to smoke marijuana’ when you play Queen’s ‘Another one bites the dust’ backwards, and Satanic messages from a backwards version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’.

'Stairway to Heaven' apparently contains Satanic messages when played backwards

Some secret messages, however, don’t require complex sound editing programmes or a forum of likeminded nutters to figure out; in fact most large businesses or public facilities where people gather in numbers have a secret message to alert staff to potential threats before the general public are let in on it. According to The Guardian's notes and queries if you’re waiting at Kings Cross and ‘Mr Sands’ is called to the ‘Operations Room’ then there’s something going on that the staff need to know about.

On a related note, a friend of mine used to work as a bouncer in a club where a similar system was employed: because of his raised position the DJ could see any fights that might be breaking out on or around the dancefloor and so, when he noticed something untoward, would stick on the ‘fight song’. This was the signal to the door staff to leave their posts and get onto the dance floor to stop the revellers from seriously injuring each other.

So next time you’re in Toffs or The Gallery and you see the bouncers on the move and looking menacing, make a little mental note of the tune playing at the time and we’ll see if we can work out what their ‘fight song’ is between us.

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