In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I dig a pony
Well, you can celebrate anything you want
Yes, you can celebrate anything you want
Oh
I do a road hog
Well, you can penetrate any place you go
Yes, you can penetrate any place you go
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
I pick a moon dog
Well, you can radiate everything you are
Yes, you can radiate everything you are
Oh, now
I roll a stoney
Well, you can imitate everyone you know
Yes, you can imitate everyone you know
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
Oh, now
I feel the wind blow
Well, you can indicate everything you see
Yes, you can indicate anything you see
Oh, now
I load a lorry
Well, you can syndicate any boat you row
Yeah, you can syndicate any boat you row
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
Well, you can celebrate anything you want
Yes, you can celebrate anything you want
Oh
I do a road hog
Well, you can penetrate any place you go
Yes, you can penetrate any place you go
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
I pick a moon dog
Well, you can radiate everything you are
Yes, you can radiate everything you are
Oh, now
I roll a stoney
Well, you can imitate everyone you know
Yes, you can imitate everyone you know
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
Oh, now
I feel the wind blow
Well, you can indicate everything you see
Yes, you can indicate anything you see
Oh, now
I load a lorry
Well, you can syndicate any boat you row
Yeah, you can syndicate any boat you row
I told you so
All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because
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Pure speculation...
I dig a pony...horse...heroin. Celebrate anything you want.
I do a road hog...groupie...penetrate any place you want.
Pick a moon dog - Early Lennon band in Liverpool was Johnny and the Moondogs. Radiate? Star?
Roll a stoney...the Rolling Stones, imitating "everyone you know, including the Beatles, which they did throughout the entire 60's
Syndicate any boat you row? WTF??? I've always wondered about that lyric.
For those of you who know John's written work in his two books, you know about his love of wordplay, puns, and twisting words around to make new ones. Any thoughts about "syndicate any boat you row?"
Perhaps a reference to the media coverage/fame? This goes along with your interpretation of "roll a stoney" (which is probably also a bit of wordplay - i.e. rollin' up a joint, which coincidentally was also very popular back in the day and goes along with the line about imitating "everyone you know"). Syndicate means to sell, especially with reference to periodicals and television. In some ways, maybe it's a critique of the Beatles' fame/media obsession, and a round about way of telling people to think for themselves.
There are also a lot of sexual innuendos, probably just for fun, and also in keeping with the message of individuality.
@dan0311 at this piont drug refference for song seems almost cliche? dont you think?<br /> <br /> let me know...<br /> <br /> Savantjester
To the stupid Beatle elitists giving evanchester a hard time here is a quote staight from John Lennon in reference to the song: "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."
Every good artist knows that even if something HAS meaning, you don't tell people what it is because it ruins the universal quality of the music. Like all art forms, the beauty of GOOD music is that people can make personal connections with it. Dylan also did the "my song means nothing" bit on a few occasions, but more often than not he was being facetious/cryptic/ironic or deliberately trying to avoid telling his audience what to think. That said, I think it is wise to keep in mind that most songs have meaning - it's just a question of whether it's the artist's meaning or our own personal meaning. And, secondarily, Lennon may have subconsciously meant something when he wrote it that he's not even consciously aware of. In other words, I hear what Lennon's /saying/, and perhaps some songs really are nonsense strings of words meaning nothing, but I think with most of them (and with this song) there's some meaning, even if it's only personal to the listener. You can find several meanings in this particular song, but the overall meaning seems to be that there's no right or wrong meaning, because it's personal to you/subjective. That's the reason the Beatles are huge to this day. Their art is universal.
I like the line, you can radiate everything you are.
i dig a pony - heiroin i dig a road hog - groupies i pick a moon dog - fuck knows :s i roll a stoney - rolling stones correct me if im wrong
yeah, sounds about right. moon dog = John's band way back when was Johnny and the Moondogs.
sbroxmysox1991, he wasn't saying it was bad because of the lyrics, he just thought it was one of their worst songs. I sort of agree with him... it's not bad... just not good for a Beatles song.
The things that Lennon sings about: digging a pony (celebrating, partying), doing a road hog (boning a groupie chick), picking a moon dog (choosing a band member/forming a rock n roll band), rolling a stoney (not sure what that means - getting high?), feeling the wind blow (being aware of/using current culture/trends to enhance prestige/use in music), syndicating any boat... (making money/doing business from anything you do (film, photos, cartoons, whatever the Beatles did that spun off from their music because people are interested and will pay) - these are all things that Lennon has invented to amuse himself/become himself, become a legendary pop star.
But the point of "I Dig A Pony" is that all these amusements and inventions pale in comparison to the love that he has found, and so "All I want is YOU!" (You are all that is important now. And "Everything has got to be the way you want it to be" (All the things I ever have wanted before are such nonsense. Now all I want is what You want).
In other words, all that the things that Lennon has accomplished or done before in his life are not very satisfying after all and, in fact, essentially meaningless . Now all he wants is what his true love wants (Yoko Ono, no doubt).
@Carlhole Who knows but this is what I think too. Ironic, self-referential, all Lennon's Late-Beatles themes. PArdon my suffiness but I'm collecting examples of postmodernism in Late & Post-Beatles. For no "good" reason I assure you. There are more than a few...<br />
Still piecing this one together, I think it's similar to Come Together-- but instead of describing in order each member of the band themselves, I'm pretty sure each part is commenting on the popular musicians of the day-- the Beatles contemporaries.
roll a stoney = The Rolling Stones (imitating everyone they know)
feel the wind blow (Blowin' in the wind) = Bob Dylan (Indicating everything you see (Like, say, in Subterranean Homesick Blues?)
syndicate any boat you row = Beach Boys (Sloop John B, perhaps???)
Perhaps the Moon Dog is Donovan?
hmm...
the last verse is 'I LOAD A LORRY"
ROLL A LORRY!!!!!!
Last verse is not "I dug a pony" it's "I rode a lorry." A lorry is the word used in Britain Colonies for truck.
'British colonies' LOL your obviously not british. There are no british colonies. Our country isn't big enough for something that means one thing in the north to mean something different elsewhere. People know what you mean everywhere if you say lorry! They may also use 'truck' 'tractor-trailer', HGV ( heavy goods vehicle ) or 'Artic' ( articulated lorry ) but there are no colonies in Britain. Even those far up north in scotland will totally understand people from Liverpool like the Beatles if they listen hard enough!
This song is about beastiality with small horses and "penetrating" road hogs ... the beatles were into some weird shit