Song Origin

Mona was an actual pet pig of JT’s, but he didn’t kill her himself. Instead she found rat poison in his woodpile, ate it, and died. Mona was so huge they needed a backhoe to bury her. JT said the version in the song made for a better story, though.

JT told the story at length in many concerts of the era – in some cases extending the story so much the audience was encouraged to get up for intermission while he finished.

Author Michael Pollan wrote a 2013 New York Times Magazine article about his pet pig and its run-in with JT’s pig, Mona.