The Greatest Rock song ever written is without a doubt "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan. Never mind that Jimi Hendrix did it better and Bob has been playing Jimi's version ever since. It has confounded critics for decades, but a simple trick makes the whole song and narrative make perfect sense. Read on.
For 40 years, when Bob Dylan plays "All Along the Watchtower" (as he is now in his tour of the States...travel on, Minstrel boy) It has become THE showcase for whoever has the honor of being Dylan's lead guitar player. Robbie Robertson was first and set the standard...well, maybe Mike Bloomfield. This year's model is again Charlie Sexton, and sexy he is...Handsome as any rock and roller can be, square-jawed, slim...and girls just drop their panties overboard for Charlie. I hope Papa Dylan gets him on the bus safe every night.
The song was written up in Woodstock in 1967-1968 when Bob and The Band were living together, basically taking advantage of a well-earned vacation and creating the Basement Tapes (No, not the sullied and tainted CD called the Basement Tapes for sale on Amazon) The 6 hours of songs Garth Hudson recorded which have only seen light through bootleggers. It looks like I have waited so long they will NEVER come out on a real disc now...since a sequence of bits and bytes suffices for music today. Digital dross wouldn't have scared Garth. He is a natural born tinkerer and could have recorded the songs on a pimped up Morse Code machine if they asked him to. For some reason, I think Garth Hudson knows ways to transmit music we haven't even discovered yet.
The point is that the greatest rock song was immediately transformed from a quiet, acoustic fairy tale into a raging howl of hell-fire and steam by Jimi Hendrix, and I can't think of a more effective cover, one which literally convinced the writer it was better, and so MUCH better he added the later version to his permanent repertoire. Let me tell you...to improve on anything Dylan does is no small feat.
But the post is about the song, Cribbed here from Bob Dylan.com and no, I am not selling ringtones. This, children, is a song.
All Along The Watchtower By Bob Dylan
“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
So the Secret? The mysterious secret of the greatest rock song ever written, a standard for the last 45 years? It is simple... Dylan reversed the paragraphs, or phrases. The "correct" lyrics, and the secret of the song's mystery is revealed when placed in proper order.
All Along The Watchtower By Bob Dylan (Reversed Phases)
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
“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”
Remember, it was Dylan himself who said "the first one now will later be last"
So there you go....still plenty of room for guitar pyrotechnics, and we won't be as confused as the confused joker any longer. Simple as that. While listening to Hendrix, you might take a second to realize this is a trio...all the sounds are being created live by three musicians and only ONE of them from Mars.
Oh. one other thing...there should not be any confusion what the song is about in either version. It is about recording contracts, managers and an artist being taken advantage of. Again...Simple!
by Jim Linderman
