- Published on 1970
- Author: Lennon/McCartney
- Track 2 on “Let It Be“
John Lennon’s quotes about “Dig A Pony”
JOHN 1972: “I was just having fun with words. It was literally a nonsense song. You just take words and you stick them together, and you see if they have any meaning. Some of them do and some of them don’t.”
JOHN 1980: “Another piece of garbage.”
About “Dig A Pony”
“Dig A Pony” was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The band recorded the song on 30 January 1969, during their rooftop concert at the Apple Corps building on Savile Row in central London.
It was written for Lennon’s soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono, and features a multitude of strange, seemingly nonsensical phrases strung together in what Lennon referred to as a Bob Dylan style of lyric.
In author Ian MacDonald’s description, the lyrics “celebrate countercultural claims that society’s old values and taboos were dead, that life was a game and art a free-for-all, and (especially) that words meant whatever the hell one wished them to”.
“Dig a Pony” was among the first songs the Beatles worked on during day one of their filmed rehearsals for a planned return to live performance, in January 1969. Lennon introduced it to George Harrison soon after arriving at Twickenham Film Studios on 2 January, as the pair ran through their latest songs.
Personnel
The Beatles
- John Lennon – lead vocal, rhythm guitar
- Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar
- George Harrison – lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums
Additional musician
- Billy Preston – electric piano
