All Along the Watchtower: Encyclopedia - All Along the Watchtower

All Along the Watchtower

"All Along the Watchtower" is a song written by folk-rock musician Bob Dylan. Dylan originally wrote the song's lyrics in reverse, beginning with the "All Along The Watchtower" verse, and ending with the now opening lines, "'There must be some way out of here,' said the Joker to the Thief." The song was recorded by the artist as a quiet, menacing three-chord folk song, featuring only an acoustic guitar, bass guitar, harmonica and drums for release on his equally quiet and menacing album John Wesley Harding, which was released on December 27, 1967.

Dylan, recovering from a motorcycle accident that marks a shift in his career as an amphetamine-driven rock-poet, was reading the Bible on a daily basis. As with many of the lyrics to the songs on this album, the words to "Watchtower" contain possible Biblical and apocalyptic references, and are difficult to decipher with any degree of certainty. Taken literally, the song concerns a conversation between two people, a "joker" and a "thief", on the difficulties of getting by in life ("There's too much confusion"; "There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke"). At the end of the song, the pair either approach a watchtower (manned by princes and servants), or the watchtower (which the joker and thief are presumably in) is approached by two other riders. This point is difficult to ascertain as the viewpoint of the song switches abruptly. One commonly hypothesized inspiration for the song is the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21:8-9, and it is easy to believe that Dylan's couplet:

may have sprung from Isaiah's similarly apocalyptic:

All Along the Watchtower - Cover versions

The song has been covered by many artists, including Richie Havens, Brewer & Shipley, XTC, the Indigo Girls, U2, Run DMC, Neil Young, TSOL, Elton John, Michael Hedges, Dave Matthews Band, Howie Day, The Grateful Dead, Lenny Kravitz and Paul Weller. The Pat McGee Band did a performance of the piece that mocked the Dave Matthews Band cover.

All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

Guitarist Jimi Hendrix recorded a notable version, one which has overshadowed Dylan's own performance. He heard the track after being taken to a party by Traffic's Dave Mason. Hendrix, a longtime fan of Dylan's work, commented he would love to cover the track. The same night, Dave Mason and Hendrix recorded their version, with Brian Jones present in the studio. While Dylan's version had been minimalistic and menacing, Hendrix's spared nothing—his wailing electric guitar and sing-song vocal delivery were wholly different from Dylan's quiet folk performance. Hendrix rearranged the song to include several electric guitar solos, where the harmonica solos were in Dylan's version, and included it on his album Electric Ladyland (1968). Released as a single, it was an immediate hit—the only Top 40 single Hendrix would release in his lifetime. Many assumed that Hendrix had written the song himself, so different was his delivery from Dylan's. Dylan's subsequent live performances of his own song have also used an electric guitar and been closer to Hendrix's arrangement than his studio version; however, it should be noted that most of Dylan's contemporary live performances use electric guitars, and he typically re-arranges all his songs in concert. Hendrix's version was featured in the movie Withnail and I and the movie Forrest Gump.

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