ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

Bob Dylan has played this song more times than any other.

More than Like A Rolling Stone, Tangled Up In Blue or Blowin' In The Wind.

According to bobdylan.com he has played it 2,125 times. 

It was released on November 22nd, 1968.

“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief
“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”

“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl

Copyright © 1968 by Dwarf Music; renewed 1996 by Dwarf Music

Dylan recorded "All Along the Watchtower" on November 5, 1967, at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee.

The released version is actually a composite - the third and fifth takes were spliced together to create the album track.

“That whole artistic mystique is one of the great traps of this business, because down that road lies unintelligibility. Dylan has a lot to answer for there, because after a while he discovered that he could get away with anything—he was Bob Dylan and people would take whatever he wrote on faith. So he could do something like "All Along the Watchtower," which is simply a mistake from the title on down - a watchtower is not a road or a wall, and you can't go along it.”

Dave Van Ronk, The Mayor Of Macdougal Street.

“ ‘All Along The Watchtower’ was always one of my favorite songs to play with Neil (Young). Amazing song. Playing it with Neil was always a huge amount of fun, because of the way he plays, his sound. The song just allowed him to soar, completely fly. And it allows for a big, massive wide beat. It has so many powerful elements. Playing it with Bob Dylan was the ultimate, of course...”  

- Jim Keltner.

The Jimi Hendrix version.

 

Bob Dylan: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do so to this day."

Bob Dylan: "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

"Jimi Hendrix did more to promote John Wesley Harding than anybody. It was one of the most remarkable records ever made, of course. And the fact that Jimi picked up on (“All Along The Watchtower”) from that (LP) was unusual, (because at the time the album) was not a very popular Bob Dylan album and made everybody go back to it. And, I’m telling you, that’s how powerful that record was! Everybody went back to John Wesley Harding after hearing Hendrix, thinking, ‘You know, maybe I missed something? Look what Jimi Hendrix did with it."

                                                                 

                                                        - Steven Van Zandt, 2002