11:18 Dig A Pony

Dig A Pony is a song of two halves. The chorus is a lover's plea for help along the same lines as I Want You (She's So Heavy) whereas the verses are sub par Dylanesque gibberish that doesn't even try to reach for the heights of I Am The Walrus. It's all lazy free association wordplay (Rolling Stones = roll a stoney) and arbitrary rhymes (celebrate/penetrate/radiate/imitate) which tread the same ground as George's outbreak of rhyme fever on While My Guitar Gently Weeps (alerted/diverted/perverted/squirted), only less successfully.

The music is not much better. The beat plods and the verse chord progression is angular and ugly. Beginning on the root chord (actually the same alternating A to D/A that drives I've Got A Feeling) we have

A       A       A      A
F#m  F#m
Bm    G       G
Bm    G       E      E


The G is out of key (a bVII) and Lennon employs his usual method of subtracting (Ticket 37) and adding (Ticket 52) bars at will - thus giving us a 4 bar phrase, then 2, then 3 and finishing on a 4 bar one.

A few clever touches, but I don't think there's a single idea in this song that John hasn't used to better effect somewhere else. It's not even the only song with 'Dig' in the title for crying out loud!

And on that rather underwhelming note – we have finished our fourth album! So before we dive into the White Album (which personally I'm looking forward to immensely) you can expect a couple of 'concluding thoughts' type posts, an index of all the Let It Be posts and a review of three Paul McCartney biographies!!!!!

The Best Of Let It Be pt.6 (Two Of Us, Dig A Pony)

Two of Us 

LIB – A studio recording made the day after the famous rooftop gig.

LIBN - A light remix of the original version. The vocals are clearer and vocals sit better together.

A3 - A really rough rehearsal recorded on 24 January 1969 at Apple Studios, notable only for McCartney saying "take it Phil!" a reference to Phil Everly whose vocal harmony style Lennon and McCartney are emulating.


Not much in it – but better vocal sound means another win for the remixers.

Dig a Pony

LIB – The version from the rooftop concert on 30 January 1969 featuring Billy Preston. There's a false start, Lennon Ringo blows his nose and the song concludes with light applause and Lennon complaining about his hands being cold. The song's intro and outro was removed by Spector because “The tuning [presumably Lennon's vocals] is particularly bad in the beginning.”

LIBN - A light remix of the original version. The false start and closing dialogue are cut and the intro/outro are not replaced. The piano is a little more audible.

A3 - Another lackluster run through recorded on 22 January 1969 at Apple Studios. It seem like Ringo hasn't settled on a part, the tempo is slower, the bass is too loud and there's no organ. The original intro removed from both LIB albums is heard here.

The two LIB version are hardly distinguishable – but I'll take Billy Preston playing piano over John Lennon Ringo Starr unpacking his trunk.

Best Version

Two Of Us - LIBN
Dig A Pony - LIBN