?ew t’nod ,sdrawrof og ot kcab og ot evah ew semitemoS ?egnahc a rof kcab gniog tuoba woH .sdrawrof gniog htiw noissesbo tnatsnoc a evah eW !sdrawroF !sdrawroF
Forwards! Forwards! We have a constant obsession with going forwards. How about going back for a change? Sometimes we have go back to go forwards, don’t we?
This week it’s time to mess about with perspective a little. As Scotland votes over independence, will the result be a reversal or an advance in fortunes? Aye. Naw. Mibbe. Another important question is: was it a car or a cat I saw? Say this backwards and you come out with exactly the same phrase. Or - Mr Owl ate my metal worm. Or if you’re name is Anna, Hannah, Bob, or Abba, or you use a minim (half note) in music, then reversing is a comfortable way to go.
In my local park, I often see a man taking his daily constitutional walk backwards. People have now ceased to stare, and I’m sure he doesn’t care, but he clearly gains benefit and joy from this refreshing experience for his leg muscles.
Reverse motion can be a cognitive as well as a physical process, and can throw up extraordinary or imaginative perspectives. Martin Amis’s 1991 novel Time’s Arrow is a good example of how reversal of events can seem to entirely change their meaning. Old people become younger, then as they return to babyhood, enter their mother’s wombs. Bombs put people back together, violent blows heal wounds, and a concentration camp creates a new race of people. It’s disturbing, but illuminating. Playful optical illusions bring up different forms of reversal in the work of artists such as René Magritte, Bridget Riley or MC Escher. But in music, first up, and for fun, here’s Cab Calloway in 1932 redefining forwards and backwards motion in what is widely thought to be the forerunner to Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. There’s a cartoon afterwards if you fancy it. Oop-doop-a-doop!
Songs about going in reverse can work on different levels and all are valid. Firstly, there are songs that feature music played backwards. We touched on some of these in songs with strange noises and musical instruments, but there are many that did not have space to be listed. Then there are those that reverse phrases, musically or in lyrics. And finally there are lyrics associated with all senses of going in reverse, or going backwards, whether in life, time, direction or mental process, or turning upside down or inside out how you felt or thought about something. U-turns, volte-face, backpeddling, role reversal, or reversal of fortunes, good or bad, might also come into play here.
Movement going backwards can also be spellbinding, as much of the footage above reveals. It can look magical. And now more on the origins of that illusion-based dance, the moonwalk, brilliantly executed by a fleet-footed Bill Bailey (not the British comedian) in 1955 at the end of this foot-tapping clip. Take it away, Bill.
Back to nature now. Who, even, from Cab Calloway to Bill Bailey to Michael Jackson or even the funky king James Brown, can compete with the manakin bird doing his thing, a truly incredible illusion of reverse step dancing?
In music video, one of the cleverest examples of reverse action can be found in French film director Michel Gondry’s video of Japanese New-York based band Cibo Matto. It features an ingenious split-screen following identical daily routines of two members of the band, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, moving backwards. They meet very briefly in the middle. Clever stuff.
There are many other great examples of forward and backward motion in film and video, from the Pharcyde’s wobbly, otherwordly movements in Drop, to a Japanese eating champion producing food from his mouth In God Lives Underwater’s From Your Mouth. And then there’s REM’s extremely absorbing video for Imitation of Life. It pans in and out of a barbecue party scene, playing small, hidden moments backwards and forwards. Some critics have compared it to the post-impressionist work by French painter Georges Seurat – A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Either way, you spot something new in it at each viewing.
Thus ends my brief backwards tour. So please put forward your nominations in comments, and optionally in the Spotify playlist, for this week’s guru and master of reverse motion and perspective – Professor Abahachi, by last orders (11pm BST) on Monday 22 September, after which he will put them in the right direction for publication on Thursday 25 September. !ydobyreve kcul dooG
To increase the likelihood of your nomination being considered, please:
• Tell us why it’s a worthy contender.
• Quote lyrics if helpful, but for copyright reasons no more than a third of a song’s words.
• Provide a link to the song. We prefer Muzu or YouTube, but Spotify, SoundCloud or Grooveshark are fine.
• Listen to others people’s suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist.
• If you have a good theme for Readers recommend, or if you’d like to volunteer to compile a playlist, please emailpeter.kimpton@theguardian.com
• There’s a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are “zedded”, at the Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of “zedded”, “donds” and other strange words used by RR regulars.
• Many RR regulars also congregate at the ‘Spill blog.
