Today's REWIND selection is an early 90s indie classic, which was born in an unusual way. Manchester indie band The Mock Turtles were due to release their song 'Lay Me Down' as a single, when their record label asked them to list the songs they would be using for the B-sides, so that the sleeve art could be produced. They hadn't yet come up with any of these songs, so instead they made up a song title on the spot and wrote it afterwards. Singer Martin Coogan had been watching The Warriors which featured the rallying call, "Can you dig it?", hence the song was born. After being released as 'Lay Me Down''s B-side in 1990, 'Can You Dig It' was re-released as an A side a year later in 1991, reaching number 18.
Formed in 1985 and occasionally still active now, the song was The Mock Turtles' only Top 40 hit. As well as having a bridge that's even more Stone Roses than The Stone Roses themselves, it would be impossible to write an article about this song or The Mock Turtles without mentioning the interesting fact that frontman Martin is the brother of comic legend Steve Coogan. Since I'm not aware of any other music from the band, I'm going to take a listen to their 'Best Of' collection that also shares its name with this hit single.
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