"Dig It" | |
---|---|
Song by the Beatles | |
from the album Let It Be | |
Released | 8 May 1970 |
Recorded | 26 January 1969 |
Studio | Apple, London |
Genre | Rock |
Length | 0:51 (
Let It Be version) 4:10 ( Get Back mix) 8:20 (Full version) 15:05 (Jam) |
Label | Apple, EMI |
Songwriter(s) | Lennon/ McCartney/ Harrison/ Starkey |
Producer(s) | Phil Spector |
"Dig It" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. The song is credited to Lennon/ McCartney/ Harrison/ Starkey, and is one of the few songs to be credited to all of the Beatles. This song and the 39-second " Maggie Mae" appear on the Let It Be album, but are excluded from the Let It Be... Naked album, instead being replaced with " Don't Let Me Down". Glyn Johns' May 1969 version of the album, then titled Get Back, had a four-minute excerpt of "Dig It", which was later reduced to the much shorter version in the final album. [1]
Several versions were recorded during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, on 24, [2] 26, [3] 27, [4] 28, [5] and 29 January 1969, [6] at Apple Studio. The 51-second version on the album is an extract taken from the 26 January version, [3] [1] which was a 15-minute jam that evolved from a loose " Like a Rolling Stone" jam. A segment of the jam session, 4 minutes and 30 seconds in length, appears in the documentary film Let It Be. The participants in that session are John Lennon on vocals and 6-string bass, George Harrison on guitar, Paul McCartney on piano, Ringo Starr on drums, George Martin on maracas and Billy Preston at the organ; also participating in the jam, but not heard on the released version, was Linda Eastman's six-year-old daughter Heather. Eastman later became McCartney's wife. [3] [7]
In the early part of the jam, Lennon sings the main lyric with interjections from Harrison. Heather adds wordless vocals, which in the 2021 miniseries The Beatles: Get Back, appear to be imitating Yoko Ono. As the performance winds down, Lennon exhorts the others to continue. McCartney adds a baritone backup vocal of "dig it up, dig it up, dig it up" and variations, and Lennon begins to repeat " Like a rolling stone", then, in free association manner, mentions "the FBI", "the CIA", "the BBC", " B.B. King", " Doris Day" and " Matt Busby". [3] [8]
The excerpt on the Let It Be album fades in on Lennon's second "Like a rolling stone" and concludes with Lennon speaking in a falsetto: "That was 'Can You Dig It?' by Georgie Wood, and now we'd like to do ' Hark, the Angels Come'". The second sentence of that line is cut off in Let It Be's film recording of the jam session. ("Wee Georgie Wood" was a 4'9" music-hall performer and child star.) The interjection actually comes from a different improvised jam recorded on the 24th. [2] The earlier jam was much different, described by Beatles bootleg scholars Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt as "sounding like a cross between the traditional ' Sailor's Hornpipe' and a slowed down rendition of Neal Hefti's ' Batman', as played on slide guitar". [2] An excerpt from this jam (entitled "Can You Dig It?") can be heard on the " Fly on the Wall" bonus disc to Let It Be... Naked. [9]