Raise your hand if you played a Beatles song backwards...

I was in 7th grade when my father bought a Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder. It used 1/4" tape and normally played mono recordings. A mechanical control on the head allowed the user to convert it to stereo by connecting an add-on speaker box. Wattage was low and everything had tube circuitry.
These machines were built solid, probably 40 pounds, so much the school board used them in Audio Visual presentations.
Me, my dad and my brother all took turns using this tape recorder. My brother used to record single songs from 45's and make a 'party mix' for his friends. I recorded my rock band rehearsals for evaluation and my dad often recorded audio tracks from TV shows.

The way 1/4" recording tape is designed, you had 4 spaces for record/playback. 2 channel stereo used tracks 1 and 3. When the tape ended, you could flip the reels and play back the other side that was adjusted for tracks 2 and 4. There was enough separation that the head would only play the intended tracks. Since there was a stereo/mono switch, if you played a stereo recording in mono, there was a really good chance the 'cross talk' of the other tracks would come through the playback... in reverse.
Eventually something that sounded like: Moisuah, ska chipp chip dursennn ya bolumaga snit bosha, would come from the speakers.

In the world of Beatlemania, it was said The Beatles had recorded cryptic clues about the untimely death of Paul McCartney and his identical look-alike replacement, Billy Shears. In order to hear the messages, you needed to hear the record played backwards!
Piece of cake... right? Just break out the Wollensak and record the song, flip the tape, move the playback head to stereo and adjust the alignment to catch the opposite track running backwards.

"Turn me on dead man... Turn me on dead man.."



That Wollensak was in my shed for more than 20 years. When I tried to use it, all the belts and rubber wheels had gummed out and rotted. Unless, you needed a really cool door stop, It was useless to keep it around.

I read the other day that many years later, McCartney publicity acknowledged the stunt about his passing was totally frabricated.