.level lanoitome na no erom em ot skaeps ti tub ,snaem ti tahw erugif yltcaxe t’nac I yllacitnameS .em deugirtni syawla sah “em ton m’I fi llet t’nac I” ni evitagen elbuod eht fo erutan eugav ehT .lla ta gnos eht ot netsil d’I nosaer eritne eht neeb ,stniop emos ta ,sah evoba ciryl detouq eht litnu “dnuora syalp niarb eht woh eeS” ta gnitrats gnignis eciov eht kniht I tub ,gnos eht fo trap etirovaf ym si noitces eritne sihT .taht dekil syawla ev’I ,ereh tceffe dnuos a sa II adleZ morf hgual s’nonaG fo noitaroprocni eht si tuo tniop ot gniht ynnuf A .flesti rof skaeps kniht I taht ,gniraeppasid sdnuos citarre eht fo lla ,ytiralc fo etats yratnemom a ;ni setunim 5 tuoba ta yaw sraelc lla sihT

.”yramrifni eht ot mih nmednoC ⦚ insane ⦚ tiebla traeh doog a ev’I” :sciryl niam eht otni detaroprocni s’ti woh si ekil ylralucitrap I tub ,tuohguorht rehtegot dexim ylivaeh era gnos eht fo stnemele desrever-non dna desrever ehT .onaip fo esu taerg eht ,sesrev neewteb snoitisnart eht ,rehto hcae revo og taht gnos eht ni seciov tnereffid ynam eht ,eno gnitadimitni na semitemos ,dnuos “yhctilg” a setubirtnoc semitemos hcihw ,stnemurtsni dna ,stceffe dnuos ,seciov desrever ehT :gnos siht fo ytinasni eht ot etubirtnoc stnemele fo tol A .tnerehoc gnihtemos setaerc llits ti tub ,NUD NUD nud nud eht yb detarapes ,etercsid yrev era gnos siht ni sesrev ehT

.(pu ti enil ot deirt dna yticaduA ni ecno gninnigeb eht desrever I ,em tsurt) yawyna sdrawrof si ti sa esrever emas eht yltcaxe t’nsi gnos ehT .yaw egnarts emos ni skrow tsuj hcihw ,yteritne sti ni gnos eht ot netsil syawla I ,taht etipseD .“yllamron” ti syalp ti erofeb esrever ni tsrif gnos eht fo htgnel eritne eht syalp taht gnihtemos ,latnemirepxe siht gnihtemos eb ot gnos pot ym rof si ti driew woh yas tsum I ,dnA .1202 ni kcab ,ot em decudortni sacuL dneirf ym taht gnos tnatropmi tsom eht ylbaborp si sihT .si llits ti fi desirprus eb t’ndluow I dna ,yfitopS no emit lla fo gnos ot denetsil tsom ym syawla saw gnos siht ,dekrow IPA rieht woh degnahc yfitopS erofeB .gnos siht tuoba yas ot tol a s’erehT

・

There’s a lot to say about this song. Before Spotify changed how their API worked, this song was always my most listened to song of all time on Spotify, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it still is. This is probably the most important song that my friend Lucas introduced me to, back in 2021. And, I must say how weird it is for my top song to be something this experimental, something that plays the entire length of the song first in reverse before it plays it “normally”. Despite that, I always listen to the song in its entirety, which just works in some strange way. The song isn’t exactly the same reverse as it is forwards anyway (trust me, I reversed the beginning once in Audacity and tried to line it up).

The verses in this song are very discrete, separated by the dun dun DUN DUN, but it still creates something coherent. A lot of elements contribute to the insanity of this song: The reversed voices, sound effects, and instruments, which sometimes contributes a “glitchy” sound, sometimes an intimidating one, the many different voices in the song that go over each other, the transitions between verses, the great use of piano. The reversed and non-reversed elements of the song are heavily mixed together throughout, but I particularly like is how it’s incorporated into the main lyrics: “I’ve a good heart albeit ⦚ enasni ⦚ Condemn him to the infirmary”.

This all clears way at about 5 minutes in; a momentary state of clarity, all of the erratic sounds disappearing, that I think speaks for itself. A funny thing to point out is the incorporation of Ganon’s laugh from Zelda II as a sound effect here, I’ve always liked that. This entire section is my favorite part of the song, but I think the voice singing starting at “See how the brain plays around” until the quoted lyric below has, at some points, been the entire reason I’d listen to the song at all. The vague nature of the double negative in “I can’t tell if I’m not me” has always intrigued me. Semantically I can’t exactly figure what it means, but it speaks to me more on an emotional level.