All Along the Watchtower
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| “All Along the Watchtower” | |||||
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| Song by Bob Dylan | |||||
| Album | John Wesley Harding | ||||
| Released | December 27, 1967 | ||||
| Recorded | November 6, 1967 | ||||
| Genre | Folk rock | ||||
| Length | 2:31 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Writer | Bob Dylan | ||||
| Producer | Bob Johnston | ||||
| John Wesley Harding track listing | |||||
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"All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It initially appeared on his album John Wesley Harding. It has been covered by other artists in different genres, most notably by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
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[edit] Bob Dylan's original
The song was recorded by the artist as a quiet three-chord Folk song on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Studio A, Nashville, Tennessee. Accompanying Dylan, who played acoustic guitar and harmonica, were Charlie McCoy on bass guitar and Kenneth Buttrey on drums.[1] The producer was Bob Johnston, who had been Dylan's producer since Highway 61 Revisited in 1965.
When Dylan wrote this song, he was recovering from a motorcycle accident which had marked a shift in his career.[2] Members of his family commented on his reading the Bible on a daily basis.[3] Several critics have pointed out that Dylan's lyrics echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9:
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield./For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth./And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed./...And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.[3][4]
Commenting on the songs on his album John Wesley Harding, in an interview published in the folk music magazine Sing Out! in October 1968, Dylan told John Cohen and Happy Traum:
| “ | "I haven't fulfilled the balladeers's job. A balladeer can sit down and sing three songs for an hour and a half... it can all unfold to you. These melodies on John Wesley Harding lack this traditional sense of time. As with the third verse of "The Wicked Messenger", which opens it up, and then the time schedule takes a jump and soon the song becomes wider... The same thing is true of the song "All Along the Watchtower", which opens up in a slightly different way, in a stranger way, for we have the cycle of events working in a rather reverse order."[5] | ” |
Christopher Ricks has commented that "All Along the Watchtower" is an example of Dylan's audacity at manipulating chronological time: "at the conclusion of the last verse, it is as if the song bizarrely begins at last, and as if the myth began again."[6]
Dylan first performed this song live on January 3, 1974, in Chicago on the opening night of his 'comeback tour'.[7] From this first live performance, Dylan has consistently performed the song closer to Hendrix's version than to his own original recording.[7] Michael Gray writes that this is the most often performed of all Dylan's songs. Gray writes that by the end of 2003, Dylan had performed this song in concert 1,393 times.[7]
In recent years, Dylan in live performances has taken to singing the first verse again at the end of the song. As Michael Gray notes in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, "Dylan chooses to end in a way that at once reduces the song's apocalyptic impact and cranks up its emphasis on the artist's own centrality. Repeating the first stanza as the last means Dylan now ends with the words 'None of them along the line/Know what any of it is worth' (and this is sung with a prolonged, dark linger on that word 'worth')."[8]
In addition to his original recording, Dylan has released four different live recordings of the song on the following albums: Before the Flood, Bob Dylan at Budokan, Dylan & The Dead and MTV Unplugged.
[edit] Cover versions
[edit] The Jimi Hendrix Experience
| “All Along the Watchtower” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from the album Electric Ladyland |
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| B-side | US "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", UK "Long Hot Summer Night" | ||||
| Released | US September 21, 1968, UK October 18 | ||||
| Recorded | Record Plant Studios, New York, July 1967, December 1967, January 1968, April–August 1968 | ||||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock | ||||
| Length | 4:00 | ||||
| Label | Reprise Records, Track Records, Polydor, Barclay Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Bob Dylan | ||||
| Producer | Jimi Hendrix | ||||
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience singles chronology | |||||
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience began to record their cover version of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" on January 21, 1968, at Olympic Studios in London.[9] According to engineer Andy Johns, Jimi Hendrix had been given a tape of Dylan’s recording by publicist Michael Goldstein, who worked for Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman. "(Hendrix) came in with these Dylan tapes and we all heard them for the first time in the studio”, recalled Johns.[10] According to Hendrix’s regular engineer Eddie Kramer, the guitarist cut a large number of takes on the first day, shouting chord changes at Dave Mason who had appeared at the session and played guitar. Halfway through the session, bass player Noel Redding became dissatisfied with the proceedings and left. Mason then took over on bass. According to Kramer, the final bass part was played by Hendrix himself.[10] Kramer and Chas Chandler mixed the first version of "All Along The Watchtower" on January 26th, but Hendrix was quickly dissatisfied with the result and went on re-recording and overdubbing guitar parts during June, July, and August at the Record Plant studio in New York.[11] Engineer Tony Bongiovi has described Hendrix becoming increasingly dissatisfied as the song progressed, overdubbing more and more guitar parts, moving the master tape from a four-track to a twelve-track to a sixteen-track machine. Bongiovi recalled, "Recording these new ideas meant he would have to erase something. In the weeks prior to the mixing, we had already recorded a number of overdubs, wiping track after track. [Hendrix] kept saying, ‘I think I hear it a little bit differently.’”[12] The finished version was released on the album Electric Ladyland in September 1968. The single reached number five in the British charts, and number 20 on the Billboard (magazine) chart.[13] The song also had the #5 spot on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.[14]
Dylan has described his reaction to hearing Hendrix's version: "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 it to this day."[15]
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In the booklet accompanying his Biograph album, Dylan said: "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."
This version of the song appears at number 48 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs ever, and in 2000, British magazine Total Guitar named it top of the list of the greatest cover versions ever.[16]
[edit] U2
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Irish rock band U2 first played a cover of the song during the Boy Tour in 1981. Years later during the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, the cover was played for a second time, in San Francisco, CA, with an additional verse added by Bono. This special performance was later included as a scene in U2's 1988 rockumentary film, Rattle and Hum, and also as a track on the album of the same name. The performance was impromptu, with the band literally learning the chords and lyrics within minutes of taking the stage, and thus had problems which were edited in the soundtrack. The song was played as a homage to both Bob Dylan and The Jimi Hendrix Experience,[citation needed] and was later followed up by making its way into almost 50 live shows during the band's 1989 Lovetown Tour. The song has since faded from the band's live performances, but has made brief comebacks as it was snippeted by the band at two shows during the Zoo TV Tour and Elevation Tour.
In the "Rattle and Hum" performance, Bono added the lyrics "All I got is a red guitar / Three chords and the truth / All I got is a red guitar / The rest is up to you."
[edit] Dave Matthews Band
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Dave Matthews Band has played the song since the band's inception in the early 1990s.[17] Their rendition of the song maintains Dylan's three chord structure and key signature but differs in style. Vocalist and guitarist, Dave Matthews, typically begins the song slowly with just vocals and acoustic guitar. The band members come in after the line "the hour is getting late" and the song tempo and intensity picks up. This is then followed by extended solos taken by the band members culminating with the line that the band chooses to highlight, "No reason to get excited." The song is often chosen to feature a guest performer since it is a well known rock standard. "Watchtower", as it is often referred to by fans, is a concert staple, often performed as a concert closer or encore. Performances of the song, including those played and sung solo by Matthews or with guitarist Tim Reynolds, have totaled more than 500 to date.[17] The group has released the song on more than a half-dozen live albums but has never released a studio recording of the song. Both Pat McGee and Howie Day have performed the song in the style of Dave Matthews.
[edit] Prince
During the halftime show for the National Football League's Super Bowl XLI (2007) game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, Prince performed a cover of the song.
[edit] Dionysis Savvopoulos
Greek singer and composer Dionysis Savvopoulos's album Ballos (released in 1970) included a version of this song. The lyrics are adapted into Greek. The Greek name of the song is "Paliatsos kai listis", which is a Greek translation for the phrase "the joker and the thief".
[edit] Neil Young
Neil Young performed a version live, and was joined onstage by The Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde. This version later appeared on Young's live album Road Rock Vol. 1: Friends & Relatives. He has also played this song with the above mentioned Dave Matthews Band and performed it with Booker T. and the M.G.'s at the Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration (aka "Bobfest") at Madison Square Garden. The subsequent recording of the Dylan tribute was issued in 1993.
[edit] Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead performed "Watchtower" 123 times[18], first on June 20, 1987. This adds to a lengthy repertoire of Bob Dylan covers by the Dead.
[edit] Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry recorded this song as a demo with Robin Trower in the mid 1990's. He completed the track during sessions in August 2006 for his Dylan tribute album Dylanesque released March 2007.
[edit] Pearl Jam
After playing the song four different times from 2004–2006, lead singer Eddie Vedder was asked to play the song with The Million Dollar Bashers for the I'm Not There soundtrack. In 2008, it was played 3 times during the band's US East Coast Summer Tour, including the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
[edit] Bear McCreary/Battlestar Galactica
Television composer Bear McCreary arranged a version of "All Along the Watchtower" for use in the final scene of the Battlestar Galactica season three finale "Crossroads, Part II". The lyrics had been written into the screenplay by Ronald D. Moore. [19] Versions of the song are used again throughout the fourth season, including a piano version. The song became a thematic motif of the show, with lyrics frequently referenced in dialog during many episodes, and with the final scene of the series's last episode playing out to the Jimi Hendrix version of the song.
[edit] Others
The song has been covered by many other artists[20], including:
- Nine Days
- Dave Mason
- Gov't Mule (2006/12/16 Asheville, NC)
- Indigo Girls (Back On The Bus, Y'All)
- John Mellencamp (MTV Unplugged)
- Keziah Jones (Live in Belgrade)
- Träd, Gräs & Stenar (Gärdet 12.6.1970)
- Vertical Horizon
- The Republicans
- Phil Lesh and Friends
- The Fratellis
- Vampire Weekend
- Dave Matthews Band
- Bobby Womack
- Chris de Burgh
- Paul Weller
- Michael Angelo Batio
- Brewer and Shipley
- Brygada Kryzys (polish title: Naokoło wieży)
- XTC
- Michael Hedges (Live on the Double Planet)
- George Lynch
- The Bandits (Fictional Band in German Pro7-Movie "Bandits"[1])
[edit] Cultural references
Hendrix's version was featured in the movies Withnail and I, Rush, Private Parts, Forrest Gump, A Bronx Tale, Vegas Vacation, Tupac: Resurrection, the 2001 remake of Brian's Song and Watchmen and also in television shows such as The Simpsons, in episodes "Mother Simpson" and "My Mother the Carjacker". The History Channel series Ax Men uses a portion of the song in its opening credits. The song was also mentioned by Fox Mulder in The X-Files season one episode "Beyond the Sea".
- In the film American Beauty, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is listening to the original version while lifting weights and smoking a joint in his garage.
- Joker & the Thief - Wolfmother
- 'All Along the Watchtowers' is the name of a quest in the popular MMO 'World of Warcraft'. The quest objective is to mark four particular watchtowers with a beacon torch, in order to label them for a later attack.
- The hard rock/metal version performed by Everlast and others under the alias 'Killing Zone' is featured in the helicopter scenes in the Xbox 360 game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and during the credits.
- Alan Moore wrote the lyrics into his graphic novel Watchmen, where they reflect the development of the comic's plot with Nite Owl II and Rorschach approaching Adrian Veidt's complex. Consequently, Jimi Hendrix's cover is used at that point in the film adaptation, although in the book it is stated that the lyrics are being used from the Bob Dylan version.
- Cheap Trick's 'Auf Wiedersehen' includes a line, 'There are many here among us/who feel that life is a joke,' which echo the lyrics of the Dylan song.
- Abakus's song 'Nightwalker' features a keyboard line which is taken from Jimi Hendrix's guitar solo from his version of 'All Along the Watchtower'.
- In the 2000 version of Hamlet, the grave digger can be heard softly singing a few lines of the song shortly before Ophelia's funeral.
- In the 1997 German music roadmovie Bandits the song is covered by the movie band in the opening film credits.
- In the 2005-2009 Battlestar Galactica series, the song features prominently in several major plot revelations during the final two seasons.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Log of every Dylan Recording Session". Bjorner's Still on the Road. 2006-08-20. http://www.bjorner.com/DSN01620%201967.htm#DSN01641.
- ^ "The Bob Dylan Motorcycle-Crash Mystery". American Heritage. 2006-07-29. http://www.americanheritage.com/email/articles/web/20060729-bob-dylan-motorcycle-woodstock-methamphetamine-robert-shelton-howard-sounes-ed-thaler.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-02-08.
- ^ a b Heylin,C: Bob Dylan Behind the Shades, pp, 285–286.
- ^ Gill, 1998, My Back Pages, pp. 130–131.
- ^ Jonathan Cott (ed.), Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews, p. 122
- ^ Christopher Ricks, Dylan's Visions of Sin, p. 359
- ^ a b c Gray, 2006, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, p. 7.
- ^ Michael Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, p. 7
- ^ Eddie Kramer, 'Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, p. 135
- ^ a b Eddie Kramer, 'Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, p. 136
- ^ Eddie Kramer, 'Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, p. 174
- ^ Eddie Kramer, 'Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, p. 175
- ^ Eddie Kramer, 'Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, p. 198
- ^ http://www.guitarworld.com/article/100_greatest_guitar_solos_5_quotall_along_the_watchtowerquot_jimi_hendrix
- ^ "Interview with Dylan: 09/29/95". Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. 1995-09-29. http://www.interferenza.net/bcs/interw/florida.htm.
- ^ "The Best Cover Versions Ever", Total Guitar (Future Publishing), August 2000
- ^ a b "DMBAlmanac.com". http://www.dmbalmanac.com/SongStats.aspx?sid=96.
- ^ DeadBase - Searchable Grateful Dead Setlists
- ^ Moore, Ronald D. Podcast commentary for Crossroads, Part 2.
- ^ Allmusic lists about 1 version as of Nov. 2008
[edit] References
- Cott (ed.), Jonathan (2006). Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340923121.
- Gray, Michael (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. Continuum International. ISBN 0-8264-6933-7.
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. Perennial Currents. ISBN 0-06-052569-X.
- Kramer, Eddie (1992). Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight. Warner Books. ISBN 0751511293.
- Ricks, Christopher (2003). Dylan's Visions of Sin. Penguin/Viking. ISBN 0-670-80133-X.
[edit] Further reading
- Marqusee, M (2003). Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art, New Press
[edit] External links
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