Db major · Camelot 3B · 72 BPM
Pony
by Ginuwine
- 72
- BPM
- Db major
- Key
- 3B
- Camelot
- 75
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
Timbaland built the beat that "Pony" rides on, and the track marked his breakthrough as a producer. He later revealed in a MasterClass lecture that the instrumental dated back to 1989, while the song itself was written and recorded in 1994, two years before it reached the public. Ginuwine co-wrote it with Swing Mob associates Static Major and Timbaland, and it arrived in July 1996 through 550 and Epic Records as the debut single from his first album, Ginuwine... the Bachelor.
Critics received the record warmly. Billboard's Larry Flick described a sex jam played out through horse-riding metaphors, noting added vocals run through a synthesizer that gave a unique supplemental element to the bassline. Entertainment Weekly's Matt Diehl gave it an A−, praising its funk grooves and belching synthesizer hook, while Music Week's RM Dance Update awarded a full five out of five and named it Tune of the Week.
Commercially the single topped the US Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart for two weeks from November 16, 1996, and reached number six on the Hot 100. It also hit number three in Australia and number five in New Zealand. Ginuwine performed the song live on Soul Train on November 23, 1996, and Michael Lucero directed the official video, filmed at the Cowboy Palace saloon in Chatsworth, California, where the singer and his crew entered a Western bar as strangers and gradually won over the cowboy patrons.
Pony runs at 72 BPM, the tempo of soul, trip-hop and half-time hip-hop. In classical terms it sits in largo territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 3.33 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 833 ms. It is in Db major, Camelot 3B, which shares its notes with Bb minor and mixes cleanly with F# major and Ab major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.