Songfacts®:

• The Mock Turtles were formed in Manchester in 1987 by vocalist Martin Coogan, the older brother of the comedian and actor Steve Coogan. This was the band's only hit single.
  
  Martin Coogan recalled in One Hit Wonders by Chris Welch and Duncan Soar: "We recorded a track called 'Lay Me Down' and my manager said: 'What's the B-side?' I said: 'I haven't written it yet.' He said: 'Just give me a title.' I said: 'Can You Dig It?' The following evening I had friends round for dinner and had to excuse myself to write the song in the back room. When we signed to Siren they wanted us to re-record 'Can You Dig It?' and it was a hit."
• The Mock Turtles were unable to follow up the early success and were dropped by their label. The band remained in limbo until Vodafone used the song in 2003 for an advertising campaign featuring David Beckham. This saw the band make a comeback with Norman Cook doing a remix of the song, taking the track back into the UK Top 20. Coogan recalled: "Vodafone wanted to use it in a £25m ad campaign, and needed my permission. I said: 'Where do I sign?' Then Virgin Records wanted to do a remix, so I called in Norman Cook to do the job. The remix went back into the charts."