diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9282bd2..6ca4830 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ The simple multisig toolchain for git repos.
 
       Consider using the following one liner which is much faster to review:
       ```
-      git fetch origin refs/notes/signatures
+      git fetch origin refs/notes/signatures:refs/notes/signatures
       while read -r line; do \
         gpg --verify \
           <(printf "$line" | sed 's/.*pgp://g'| openssl base64 -d -A) \
diff --git a/git-sig b/git-sig
index 46d4c01..e3329f9 100755
--- a/git-sig
+++ b/git-sig
@@ -467,6 +467,7 @@ cmd_verify() {
 		--) shift; break ;;
 	esac done
 
+	git fetch "$remote" refs/notes/signatures:refs/notes/signatures
 	local -r head=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 	if [ -n "$diff" ] && [ -z "$ref" ]; then
 		while read -r commit; do
@@ -556,7 +557,7 @@ cmd_push() {
 		-r|--remote) remote="$2"; shift 2 ;;
 		--) shift; break ;;
 	esac done
-	git fetch "$remote" refs/notes/signatures:refs/notes/"${remote}"/signatures
+	git fetch "$remote" refs/notes/signatures:refs/notes/signatures
 	git notes --ref signatures merge -s cat_sort_uniq "${remote}"/signatures
 	git push --tags "$remote" refs/notes/signatures
 }