Dig a Pony

"Dig a Pony"
	Cover of the song's sheet music
Song by the Beatles
from the album Let It Be
Released	8 May 1970
Recorded	30 January 1969
Genre	Blues rock
Length	3:52
Label	Apple, EMI
Songwriter(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)	Phil Spector
Audio sample
	"Dig a Pony" file; help;

"Dig a Pony" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, originally released on their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The recording is from the concert on the rooftop of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London, performed by the Beatles on 30 January 1969.

Composition

John Lennon was the song's composer and singer but the song was credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was originally called "All I Want Is You". Lennon said the song was "a piece of garbage",[1] though he showed similar scorn for many of his songs. It was written for his soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono, and featured a multitude of strange, seemingly nonsense phrases which were strung together in what Lennon refers to as a Bob Dylan style of lyric.

The song is in A major with the chorus being in A Mixolydian and is in 6/8 time.

Early American pressings of Let It Be mistitled this song as "I Dig a Pony."

Recording

The song was one of the songs on Let It Be that was recorded at the rooftop concert, with an assistant holding up Lennon's lyrics for him as a cue.[2] It begins with a false start, with Ringo Starr yelling "Hold it!" to halt the other band members because he was putting out his cigarette and had both of his drum sticks in his right hand.[3] On the recording, the sound of someone blowing his nose right after Starr's interjection can be heard, which Mark Lewisohn attributes to Lennon.[4] On an earlier, studio take of the song, recorded on 22 January 1969 and released on the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996,[5] the first verse and the end of the song start off with Paul McCartney singing "All I want is..." This phrase appeared in every performance of the song but was cut from the final version by Phil Spector, and subsequently cut from the Let It Be... Naked version, which also omits the false start.[6]

Personnel

John Lennon – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar
George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr – drums
Billy Preston – electric piano

Notes

Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 205. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
"92 - 'Dig a Pony'". 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. Rolling Stone.
Fontenot, Robert. "Dig A Pony on About.com". About.com. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York: Harmony. p. 312. ISBN 0-517-58100-0.
Winn, John C. (2009). That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970. New York: Three Rivers Press. pp. 250–251. ISBN 978-0-307-45239-9.
Hurwitz, Matt (1 January 2004). "The Naked Truth About the Beatles' Let It Be Naked". Mix Online. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2011.

External links

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[sheff-1] Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 205. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.

[2] "92 - 'Dig a Pony'". 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. Rolling Stone.

[3] Fontenot, Robert. "Dig A Pony on About.com". About.com. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

[4] Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York: Harmony. p. 312. ISBN 0-517-58100-0.

[winn-5] Winn, John C. (2009). That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970. New York: Three Rivers Press. pp. 250–251. ISBN 978-0-307-45239-9.

[6] Hurwitz, Matt (1 January 2004). "The Naked Truth About the Beatles' Let It Be Naked". Mix Online. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2011.