Dig It (song)

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Album This song officially appears on the Let It Be (Limited Edition) LP.

Timeline This song has been officially released in 1970

Dig A Pony

Distractions

Master album

Let It Be (Limited Edition)

By The Beatles

Related sessions

This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions

Get Back sessions - January 28, 1969 - Day 17

Jan 28, 1969

Get Back sessions - January 29, 1969 - Day 18

Jan 29, 1969

Mixing the Get Back album (2nd & 3rd compilations)

March - May 1969

Recording "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Oh! Darling", "Here Comes The Sun"

Aug 11, 1969

Mixing "Let It Be" album #4

Mar 27, 1970

Mixing "Let It Be... Naked"

2003 ?

Remixing "Let It Be"

2021 ?

Related songs

12-Bar Original

Officially appears on Anthology 2

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Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“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 3:59 excerpt of “Dig It”, which was later reduced to the much shorter version in the final album.
Recording
Several versions were recorded during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, on 24, 26, 27, 28, and 29 January 1969, at Apple Studio. The 51-second version on the album is an extract taken from the 26 January version, 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.
In the early part of the jam, Lennon sings the main lyric with interjections from Harrison, while Heather adds wordless vocals. 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 goes into the “famous persons” part (mentioning “the FBI”, “the CIA”, “the BBC”, “B.B. King”, and “Doris Day” then “Matt Busby”).
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 the first version, recorded on the 24th. This version 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.” An excerpt from this version (entitled “Can You Dig It?”) can be heard on the “Fly on the Wall” bonus disc to Let It Be… Naked. […]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] stereo 27 Mar 1970. crossfaded.
UK: Apple PXS 1 and PCS 7096 Let It Be 1970.
US: Apple AR 34001 Let It Be 1970.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46447 2 Let It Be 1987.
This segment of an 8 minute song was crossfaded into “That was can you dig it . . .hark the angels come”, recorded 24 Jan 1969 at Apple after a very different improvisation also featuring the words “dig it!”.

Last updated on October 12, 2021

Lyrics

Like a rolling stone
Like a rolling stone
Like a rolling stone

Like the FBI and the CIA
And the BBC, BB King
And Doris Day, Matt Busby

Dig it, dig it, dig it
Dig it, dig it, dig it
(That was 'Can You Dig It' by Georgie Wood)
Dig it, dig it, dig it
(And now we'd like to do 'Hark The Angels Come')

Officially appears on

Let It Be (Limited Edition)

LP • Released in 1970

0:51 • Studio version • A • Stereo

Paul McCartney :: Piano

Ringo Starr :: Drums

John Lennon :: Six-string bass guitar, Vocals

George Harrison :: Lead guitar

George Martin :: Producer, Shaker

Glyn Johns :: Recording engineer

Billy Preston :: Hammond organ

Session Recording:: Jan 26, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Speech recording:: Jan 24, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Mixing:: Mar 27, 1970

Studio :: EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road

Let It Be

LP • Released in 1970

0:51 • Studio version • A • Stereo

Paul McCartney :: Piano

Ringo Starr :: Drums

John Lennon :: Six-string bass guitar, Vocals

George Harrison :: Lead guitar

George Martin :: Producer, Shaker

Glyn Johns :: Recording engineer

Billy Preston :: Hammond organ

Session Recording:: Jan 26, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Speech recording:: Jan 24, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Mixing:: Mar 27, 1970

Studio :: EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road

Let It Be (Stereo - 2009 remaster)

Official album • Released in 2009

0:51 • Studio version • A2009 • Stereo • 2009 remaster

Paul McCartney :: Piano

Ringo Starr :: Drums

John Lennon :: Six-string bass guitar, Vocals

George Harrison :: Lead guitar

George Martin :: Producer, Shaker

Glyn Johns :: Recording engineer

Billy Preston :: Hammond organ

Guy Massey :: Remastering

Steve Rooke :: Remastering

Sam Okell :: Remastering

Allan Rouse :: Project co-ordinator

Session Recording:: Jan 26, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Speech recording:: Jan 24, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Mixing:: Mar 27, 1970

Studio :: EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road

Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset)

Official album • Released in 2021

0:51 • Studio version • B • Stereo • 2021 mix

Paul McCartney :: Piano

Ringo Starr :: Drums

John Lennon :: Six-string bass guitar, Vocals

George Harrison :: Lead guitar

George Martin :: Producer, Shaker

Glyn Johns :: Recording engineer

Billy Preston :: Hammond organ

Session Recording:: Jan 26, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Session Speech recording:: Jan 24, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset)

Official album • Released in 2021

2:02 • Studio version • C • 39 seconds of this improvisation recorded on January 24, 1969 were officially available on the disk ‘Fly on the Wall’ (18:37-19:18) from ‘Let it Be… Naked’. Now it appears much longer coming from the multi-track EMI Tape E90491-8T, however the complete improvisation lasted 5:05 and is available thanks to the NAGRA Roll 449. John’s dialogue towards the end “That was’ Can You Dig It ‘by Georgie Wood” was used for Glyn Johns’ ‘Get Back’ compilations and the LP ‘Let it Be’, both of which use a different improvisation from “Dig It” recorded on January 26, 1969.

Paul McCartney :: Piano, Vocals

Ringo Starr :: Drums

John Lennon :: Six-string bass guitar, Vocals

George Harrison :: Lead guitar

George Martin :: Producer, Shaker

Glyn Johns :: Recording engineer

Billy Preston :: Hammond organ

Session Recording:: Jan 24, 1969

Studio :: Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London

Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset)

Official album • Released in 2021

4:09 • Studio version • January 26, 1969 (EMI Tape E90495-8T) with the final dialogue recorded on January 24 (EMI Tape E90491-8T). Mixes #3 from 1969 and #4 from 1970 are the same; however #2 is one minute longer.