All Along the Watchtower - wikipedia All Along the Watchtower For the Scottish TV comedy series, see All Along the Watchtower ( TV series ). `` All Along the Watchtower '' Netherlands single picture sleeve Single by Bob Dylan from the album John Wesley Harding B - side `` I 'll Be Your Baby Tonight '' Released November 22, 1968 ( 1968 - 11 - 22 ) Recorded November 6, 1967 Genre Folk rock Length 2 : 30 Label Columbia Songwriter ( s ) Bob Dylan Producer ( s ) Bob Johnston Bob Dylan singles chronology `` Drifter 's Escape '' ( 1968 ) `` All Along the Watchtower '' ( 1968 ) `` I Threw It All Away '' ( 1969 ) John Wesley Harding track listing 12 tracks Side one `` John Wesley Harding '' `` As I Went Out One Morning '' `` I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine '' `` All Along the Watchtower '' `` The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest '' `` Drifter 's Escape '' Side two `` Dear Landlord '' `` I Am a Lonesome Hobo '' `` I Pity the Poor Immigrant '' `` The Wicked Messenger '' `` Down Along the Cove '' `` I 'll Be Your Baby Tonight '' Audio sample file help `` All Along the Watchtower '' is a song written and recorded by American singer - songwriter Bob Dylan. The song initially appeared on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding, and it has been included on most of Dylan 's subsequent greatest hits compilations. Since the late 1970s, he has performed it in concert more than any of his other songs. Different versions appear on four of Dylan 's live albums. Covered by numerous artists in various genres, `` All Along the Watchtower '' is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded for Electric Ladyland with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylan 's original recording, became a Top 20 single in 1968 and was ranked 47th in Rolling Stone magazine 's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Contents 1 Bob Dylan 's original 1.1 Background 1.2 Recording 1.3 Analysis 1.4 Performances and subsequent releases 2 The Jimi Hendrix Experience 2.1 Recording 2.2 Release and charts 2.3 Reception 3 Other recordings 3.1 The Nashville Teens 3.2 Dave Matthews Band 3.3 Dave Mason 3.4 U2 3.5 Neil Young 3.6 Grateful Dead 3.7 Bryan Ferry 3.8 Pearl Jam 3.9 Bear McCreary / Battlestar Galactica 3.10 Steve Hackett Band 3.11 Others 4 In popular culture 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links Bob Dylan 's original Background Following a motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent the next 18 months recuperating at his home in Woodstock and writing songs. According to Clinton Heylin, all the songs for John Wesley Harding were written and recorded during a six - week period at the end of 1967. With one child born in early 1966 and another in mid-1967, Dylan had settled into family life. Recording Dylan recorded `` All Along the Watchtower '' on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee, the same studio where he had completed Blonde on Blonde in the spring of the previous year. Accompanying Dylan, who played acoustic guitar and harmonica, were two Nashville veterans from the Blonde on Blonde sessions, Charlie McCoy on bass guitar and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. The producer was Bob Johnston, who produced Dylan 's two previous albums, Highway 61 Revisited in 1965 and Blonde on Blonde in 1966. The final version of `` All Along the Watchtower '' resulted from two different takes during the second of three John Wesley Harding sessions. The session opened with five takes of the song, the third and fifth of which were spliced to create the album track. As with most of the album 's selections, the song is a dark, sparse work that stands in stark contrast with Dylan 's previous recordings of the mid-1960s. Analysis Several reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in `` All Along the Watchtower '' 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. 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 have n'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. The unusual structure of the narrative was remarked on by English Literature professor Christopher Ricks, who 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. '' Heylin described Dylan 's narrative technique in `` Watchtower '' as setting the listener up for an epic ballad with the first two verses, but then, after a brief instrumental passage, the singer cuts `` to the end of the song, leaving the listener to fill in his or her own ( doom - laden ) blanks. '' Critics have described Dylan 's version as a masterpiece of understatement. Andy Gill said `` In Dylan 's version of the song, it 's the barrenness of the scenario which grips, the high haunting harmonica and simple forward motion of the riff carrying understated implications of cataclysm ; as subsequently recorded by Jimi Hendrix,... that cataclysm is rendered scarily palpable through the dervish whirls of guitar. '' Dave Van Ronk, an early supporter and mentor of Dylan, disagreed with the majority view when he made the following criticism : 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 ca n't go along it. Performances and subsequent releases John Wesley Harding was released at the end of 1967, on December 27, less than two months after the recording sessions. The song was the second single from the album, released on November 22, 1968, but did not chart. A live recording of `` All Along the Watchtower '' from the album Before the Flood appeared as the B side of `` Most Likely You Go Your Way ( And I 'll Go Mine ) '' in 1974. The recordings came from separate concerts earlier that year at the Forum outside Los Angeles, both with Dylan backed by The Band. Dylan first performed the song live on January 3, 1974, in Chicago on the opening night of his ' comeback tour '. From this first live performance, Dylan has consistently performed the song closer to Hendrix 's version than to his own original recording. In The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, critic Michael Gray wrote that this is the most often performed of all of Dylan 's songs. By Gray 's count, Dylan had performed the song in concert 1,393 times by the end of 2003. According to Dylan 's own website, through 2015 he had performed the song 2,257 times. In recent years, Dylan in live performances has taken to singing the first verse again at the end of the song. As Gray notes in his 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 ' ). '' Dylan possibly was following the lead of the Grateful Dead in concluding the song by repeating the first verse ; the Dead covered the song in this fashion, both with and without Dylan. The original recording of `` All Along the Watchtower '' appears on most of Dylan 's `` greatest hits '' albums, as well as his two box set compilations, Biograph, released in 1985, and Dylan, released in 2007. In addition, Dylan has released live recordings of the song on the following albums : Before the Flood ( recorded February 1974 ) ; Bob Dylan at Budokan ( recorded March 1978 ) ; Dylan & The Dead ( recorded July 1987 ) ; and MTV Unplugged ( recorded November 1994 ). The Jimi Hendrix Experience `` All Along the Watchtower '' European single cover Single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from the album Electric Ladyland B - side `` Burning of the Midnight Lamp '' ( US ) `` Long Hot Summer Night '' ( UK ) Released September 21, 1968 ( 1968 - 09 - 21 ) ( US ) October 18, 1968 ( UK ) Format 7 - inch 45 rpm record Recorded January, June -- August 1968 Studio Olympic, London Record Plant, New York City Genre Rock Length 4 : 01 Label Reprise ( US ) Track ( UK ) Songwriter ( s ) Bob Dylan Producer ( s ) Jimi Hendrix Experience US singles chronology `` Up from the Skies '' ( 1968 ) `` All Along the Watchtower '' ( 1968 ) `` Crosstown Traffic '' ( 1968 ) Experience UK singles chronology `` Burning of the Midnight Lamp '' ( 1967 ) `` All Along the Watchtower '' ( 1968 ) `` Crosstown Traffic '' ( 1968 ) The Jimi Hendrix Experience began to record their version of Dylan 's `` All Along the Watchtower '' on January 21, 1968, at Olympic Studios in London. 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. Recording 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. Hendrix 's friend and Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones played the various percussion instruments on the track. `` That 's him playing the thwack you hear at the end of each bar in the intro, on an instrument called a vibraslap. '' Jones originally recorded a piano part that was later mixed out in place of the percussion instruments. Kramer and Chas Chandler mixed the first version of `` All Along the Watchtower '' on January 26, 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. 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. ' '' Release and charts The completed version was released as a single in the US on September 21, 1968, almost a month prior to the album release on Electric Ladyland in October. The single reached number five in the British charts, becoming the first UK stereo - only single to do so, and number 20 on the Billboard chart, Hendrix 's highest ranking American single. Reception 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 would n'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. '' 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. '' Hendrix 's recording of the song appears at number 47 on Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in 2000, British magazine Total Guitar named it top of the list of the greatest cover versions of all time. Hendrix 's guitar solo is included at number five on Guitar World 's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. Other recordings This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( January 2014 ) The Nashville Teens The earliest recording of the song, other than by Dylan, was by British pop group the Nashville Teens, who had previously had a hit in 1964 with the song `` Tobacco Road ''. Their recording of `` All Along the Watchtower '', produced by Vic Smith, was released as a single in the UK and Europe on Decca Records in March 1968, some six months before Hendrix 's version. The recording was described by the NME as `` both effective and commendable '', and by Record Mirror as a `` reasonably strong song idea '', but failed to have any commercial success, and the band left the Decca label soon afterwards. Dave Matthews band Dave Matthews Band has played the song since the band 's inception in the early 1990s. Their rendition maintains Dylan 's three chord structure and key signature but differs in style. Dave Matthews typically begins the song slowly with just bass, vocals and acoustic guitar. The band members come in after the line `` the hour is getting late '', picking up the tempo and intensity. The band 's members then take extended solos, culminating with the line, `` No reason to get excited. '' `` Watchtower '', as it is referred to by the band 's fans, is a concert staple, often performed as either a closer or as an encore. In all, they have covered the song live more than 600 times, including solo performances by Matthews, and it has appeared on nine of their officially released live albums, though the band has never released a studio version. In addition, the band has had numerous musicians guest with them while playing Watchtower including Carlos Santana, Neil Young, Warren Haynes from Gov 't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band, Trey Anastasio from Phish, Zac Brown, Bela Fleck, Robert Randolph, Marcus Mumford and Gary Clark Jr. Dave Mason Dave Mason covered `` All Along the Watchtower ''. Mason also played on Jimi Hendrix 's widely known version, playing the 12 string acoustic guitar on the track. U2 Irish rock band U2 first played a cover of `` All Along the Watchtower '' during their Boy Tour in 1981. Years later, during the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, the cover was played for a second time, in San Francisco, California, with an additional verse added by Bono. This performance was later included as a scene in U2 's 1988 rockumentary film, Rattle and Hum, and also appeared on the album of the same name. The performance was impromptu, with the band learning the chords and lyrics within minutes of taking the stage, and as a result, there were problems in editing the soundtrack. The song made its way into 47 live shows during the band 's 1989 Lovetown Tour. Neil Young Neil Young has performed numerous covers of the song, including a notable performance at Farm Aid in 1994, with band Crazy Horse and Willie Nelson. He also performed the song with Dave Matthews Band and with Booker T. and the M.G. 's at the Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden, a recording of which was issued in 1993 on The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration album. In 2000, Young performed a live version with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, which appeared on his album Road Rock Vol. 1 : Friends & Relatives. In 2004, he performed a version with Bruce Springsteen. Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead performed the song 124 times, first on June 20, 1987. Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry recorded this song as a demo with Robin Trower in the mid-1990s. He completed the track during sessions in August 2006 for his Dylan tribute album Dylanesque released March 2007. It featured up - beat versions of Dylan 's greatest hits. Pearl Jam After performing the song live four times from 2004 to 2006 with Pearl Jam, lead singer Eddie Vedder was asked to record `` All Along the Watchtower '' with The Million Dollar Bashers for the soundtrack of the Dylan biopic I 'm Not There. Named for Dylan 's song `` Million Dollar Bash '', the group was formed by guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. Its other members included Steve Shelley on drums ; Television 's Tom Verlaine, Wilco 's Nels Cline, and Smokey Hormel on guitars ; John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood on keyboards ; and Dylan 's bassist Tony Garnier. In 2008, the song was played three times during Pearl Jam 's US East Coast Summer Tour, including the Bonnaroo Music Festival. In 2009, the band was joined by Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones to perform the song at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England. Bear McCreary / Battlestar Galactica Television composer Bear McCreary arranged a distinctive version with non-Western tonalities of `` All Along the Watchtower '' for use in the final scene of the Battlestar Galactica season three finale `` Crossroads, Part II ''. A version with all the lyrics was included on the season 3 soundtrack. Steve Hackett band Steve Hackett played a live version of the song during a show at the Shepherd 's Bush Empire with John Wetton on lead vocals ( 2010 ). Then he created a studio version of the song ( also with John Wetton on vocals ) for the new remastered edition of the Tokyo Tapes live album ( 2013 ). All Along the Watchtower 's studio version involved : Steve Hackett on guitars and percussion, John Wetton on vocals, Roger King on keyboards, Lee Pomeroy on Bass and Garry O'Toole on drums. The initial live version include the same band except Nick Beggs on bass instead of Lee Pomeroy and Amanda Lehmann in a 2nd guitar part. Others The song has been covered by many other artists, including : Affinity Brewer and Shipley Chris de Burgh Randy California Eric Clapton The Dream Syndicate Richie Havens Jeff Healey Michael Hedges Indigo Girls Van Morrison Supertramp The Persuasions June Tabor T.S.O.L. Klopjag Turtle Island String Quartet Paul Weller Bobby Womack XTC Envy on the Coast Francis Cabrel, in a French translation titled `` D'en haut de la tour du guet '', on his album `` Viser le ciel '', 2012 Devlin ft Ed Sheeran John Waite Widespread Panic Dissipated Eight Frank Marino In Popular Culture This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2016 ) The song as originally recorded by Dylan was used in the 1999 film American Beauty. Hendrix 's version was featured in the movies Withnail and I, Rush, Land of the Lost ( without Hendrix 's vocals ), Private Parts, Forrest Gump, Clockers, A Bronx Tale, Blue Chips, Vegas Vacation, Tupac : Resurrection, the 2001 remake of Brian 's Song, Watchmen ( among others ), and also in television shows such as The Simpsons, in episodes `` Mother Simpson '' and `` My Mother the Carjacker '' and appears in the announcement trailer and title screen for the video game Mafia III. The Bob Dylan version appears as playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5. The final verse of the song is referenced in Chapter 10 of the graphic novel Watchmen. The song is one of seven Dylan songs of which its lyrics were reset for soprano and piano ( or orchestra ) by John Corigliano for his song cycle Mr. Tambourine Man : Seven Poems of Bob Dylan. The song is featured prominently in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, serving as a critical plot element of the show. The lyrics are referenced in the dialogue multiple times, and the opening bars are a recurring theme throughout the show. The show features a new arrangement by Bear McCreary during the season three finale, and Jimi Hendrix 's version during the series ' finale. The Jimi Hendrix cover of the song is used in The Martian trailer. A cover version of the song is performed by Tom Ellis in the Lucifer season two episode `` Everything 's Coming Up Lucifer ''. A cover version of the song by Devlin features in the opening credits of the HBO series The Young Pope. Notes ^ Jump up to : Gray, Michael ( 2006 ), The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, p. 7. Jump up ^ Bush, John. `` All Along the Watchtower ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ Sounes p. 215 - 8 ^ Jump up to : Heylin, 2009, Revolution In The Air, The Songs of Bob Dylan : Volume One, pp. 364 -- 369. ^ Jump up to : Bjorner, Olof ( May 7, 2000 ). `` Still on the Road : Bob Dylan Recording Sessions ''. Olof Bjorner. Retrieved 2009 - 10 - 18. Jump up ^ Gray p. 356 - 7 Jump up ^ Gray p. 7 Jump up ^ Heylin p. 285 Jump up ^ Gill p. 130 -- 1 Jump up ^ Cott p. 122 Jump up ^ Ricks p. 359 Jump up ^ Gill p. 131 Jump up ^ Dave Van Ronk, The Mayor of Macdougal Street, ISBN 978 - 0 - 306 - 81479 - 2 Jump up ^ Gray p. 350 Jump up ^ `` Bob Dylan Songs ''. bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 18. Jump up ^ Cf. `` Dylan and the Dead ''. Jump up ^ `` Bob Dylan Albums ''. bobdylan.com. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012. Jump up ^ Eddie Kramer, ' Hendrix : Setting The Record Straight, p. 135 ^ Jump up to : Eddie Kramer, ' Hendrix : Setting The Record Straight, p. 136 Jump up ^ Padgett, Ray : The Story Behind Jimi Hendrix 's `` All Along the Watchtower '' Jump up ^ Eddie Kramer, ' Hendrix : Setting The Record Straight, p. 174 Jump up ^ Eddie Kramer, ' Hendrix : Setting The Record Straight, p. 175 Jump up ^ `` JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE full Official Chart History Official Charts Company ''. Theofficialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 2011 - 11 - 25. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ Eddie Kramer, ' Hendrix : Setting The Record Straight, p. 198 Jump up ^ `` Interview with Dylan : 09 / 29 / 95 ''. Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. 1995 - 09 - 29. Jump up ^ `` # 47, All Along the Watchtower ''. rollingstone.com. April 7, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2012. Jump up ^ `` The Best Cover Versions Ever ''. Total Guitar. Future Publishing. August 2000. Jump up ^ `` 100 Greatest Guitar Solos : 5 ) `` All Along the Watchtower '' ( Jimi Hendrix ) ``. Guitar World. 2008 - 10 - 14. Archived from the original on November 18, 2010. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Their Music ''. The Nashville Teens. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ `` Opulent Conceptions : The Nashville Teens - Sun - Dog ''. Expo67-cavestones.blogspot.co.uk. 2012 - 08 - 21. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. ^ Jump up to : `` DMBAlmanac.com ''. Jump up ^ `` Dave Mason 's All Along The Watchtower cover of Bob Dylan 's All Along The Watchtower ''. whosampled.com. Retrieved 5 July 2011. Jump up ^ `` U2 Live : All Along The Watchtower - Setlists ''. U2tour.de. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Milestones : U2 's ' Joshua Tree ' is 25 today ; watch full 1987 ' Save the Yuppies ' concert -- slicing up eyeballs / / 80s alternative music, college rock, indie ''. Slicingupeyeballs.com. 2012 - 03 - 09. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` U2 Tour Statistics : Lovetown Tour ''. setlist.fm. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Searchable Grateful Dead Setlists ''. DeadBase. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 13. Jump up ^ `` NME.com : Pearl Jam and Rolling Stones star unite onstage at intimate gig ''. NME.com. Retrieved 2009 - 08 - 12. ^ Jump up to : Radio, Southern California Public. `` Watch ' Walking Dead ' composer Bear McCreary rock out, pirate - style ''. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 15. ^ Jump up to : `` More from TV composers Michael Giacchino and Bear McCreary ''. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 15. Jump up ^ `` Hackett Songs ''. Hackettsongs.sandbag.uk.com. 2010 - 11 - 30. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ AllMusic lists about 500 recorded versions, a figure which should be reduced to its quarter, after erasing all the duplicates. Jump up ^ Mills, Jon. `` Affinity : Affinity ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2014 - 09 - 20. Jump up ^ Viglione, Joe. `` Brewer & Shipley : Weeds ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Chris de Burgh : Footsteps ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ `` Randy California : Shattered Dreams ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2014 - 09 - 21. Jump up ^ Lenny Kravitz & Eric Clapton - All Along The Watchtower, 1999 ( Live ). Retrieved 2016 - 03 - 07. Jump up ^ Mason, Sewart. `` The Dream Syndicate : The Complete Live at Raji 's ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ `` Second Hand Songs ''. secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ `` The Jeff Healey Band : Live at Grossmans 1994 ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ Jurek, Thom. `` Michael Hedges : Platinum & Gold Collection ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Indigo Girls : Back on the Bus, Y'All ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 28. Jump up ^ Collette, Doug ( 2008 - 11 - 08 ). `` Van Morrison : Remasters Redux ''. Retrieved 2009 - 10 - 15. Jump up ^ `` Supertramp : Portrait 1970 ''. Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2012 - 03 - 06. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 15. Jump up ^ `` The Persuasions : Knockin ' on Bob 's Door ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Peel Sessions : June Tabor ( 1990 - 11 - 27 ) ''. BBC. Retrieved 2010 - 12 - 26. Jump up ^ Torreano, Bradley. `` TSOL : Hell & Back Together : 1984 - 1990 ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ `` Klopjag : Musiek vir die Agtergrond ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2008 - 04 - 01. Jump up ^ `` Turtle Island String Quartet : Have You Ever Been... ? ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. `` Paul Weller : Studio 150 ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ Elias, Jason. `` Bobby Womack : The Facts of Life ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ Woodstra, Chris. `` XTC : White Music ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2011 - 04 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Various Artists : Punk Goes Classic Rock ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2012 - 01 - 19. Jump up ^ `` Discographie - Francis CabrelFrancis Cabrel ''. Franciscabrel.com. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Devlin : A Moving Picture ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 2014 - 10 - 30. Jump up ^ `` In Real Time ( Extended and Remastered ) by John Waite on Apple Music ''. Jump up ^ `` Everyday Companion All Along the Watchtower Every Time Played = ''. Jump up ^ `` Eight Balls = ''. Jump up ^ Youngquist, Paul ( January 2013 ). `` Stats of Exception : Watchmen and Nixon 's NSC ''. Postmodern Culture. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 23 ( 2 ). Jump up ^ `` GCD : : Issue : : Watchmen ''. Comics.org. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ `` John Corigliano - Mr. Tambourine Man : Seven Poems of Bob Dylan ( for soprano and piano ) ( 2000 ) - Music Sales Classical ''. Schirmer.com. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ Plasketes, Professor George ( 28 January 2013 ). Play it Again : Cover Songs in Popular Music. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 172. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4094 - 9400 - 3. Jump up ^ `` Battlestar Galactica, `` Daybreak, Part 2 '' : There must be some kind of way out of here ``. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 15. Jump up ^ Whalen, Andrew. `` The Martian Trailer 2 : `` All Along the Watchtower '' Is An Ominous Choice ``. Idigitaltimes.com. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ `` Epic Trailer for ' The Martian ' Questions the Value of a Human Life in Space ''. Space.com. 2015 - 08 - 19. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ `` Trailer : Matt Damon 's ' The Martian ' Aims To Be The Next ' Gravity ' Or ' Interstellar ' ''. Forbes.com. 2015 - 08 - 19. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ Gaming. `` The Epic Matt - Damon - Lost - in - Space Trailer ( No, the Other One ) : The Martian ''. Wired.com. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 14. Jump up ^ `` The Young Pope has n't premiered yet, but it 's already the internet 's newest meme ''. Polygon. 2017 - 01 - 04. Retrieved 2017 - 02 - 24. References Blake ( ed. ), Mark ( 2005 ). Dylan : Visions, Portraits, and Back Pages. Mojo / DK Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7566 - 3725 - 5. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Cott ( ed. ), Jonathan ( 2006 ). Dylan on Dylan : The Essential Interviews. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0 - 340 - 92312 - 1. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Gill, Andy ( 1999 ). Classic Bob Dylan : My Back Pages. Carlton. ISBN 1 - 85868 - 599 - 0. 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 0 - 7515 - 1129 - 3. Ricks, Christopher ( 2003 ). Dylan 's Visions of Sin. Penguin / Viking. ISBN 0 - 670 - 80133 - X. Sounes, Howard ( 2001 ). Down the Highway : The Life of Bob Dylan. Grove Press. ISBN 0 - 8021 - 1686 - 8. Further reading Marqusee, M ( 2002 ). Chimes of Freedom : The Politics of Bob Dylan 's Art, New Press External links Full audio of Jimi Hendrix 's version of the song on YouTube Lyrics to the song `` Reason to Rock '' - The lyrics explained Bob Dylan Studio albums Bob Dylan The Freewheelin ' Bob Dylan The Times They Are a-Changin ' Another Side of Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home Highway 61 Revisited Blonde on Blonde John Wesley Harding Nashville Skyline Self Portrait New Morning Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Dylan Planet Waves Blood on the Tracks The Basement Tapes Desire Street - Legal Slow Train Coming Saved Shot of Love Infidels Empire Burlesque Knocked Out Loaded Down in the Groove Oh Mercy Under the Red Sky Good as I Been to You World Gone Wrong Time Out of Mind Love and Theft Modern Times Together Through Life Christmas in the Heart Tempest Shadows in the Night Fallen Angels Triplicate Live albums Before the Flood Hard Rain Bob Dylan at Budokan Real Live Dylan & the Dead The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration MTV Unplugged Live 1961 -- 2000 : Thirty - Nine Years of Great Concert Performances Live at The Gaslight 1962 Live at Carnegie Hall 1963 In Concert -- Brandeis University 1963 The 1966 Live Recordings Compilations Bob Dylan 's Greatest Hits Bob Dylan 's Greatest Hits Vol. II Masterpieces Biograph Bob Dylan 's Greatest Hits Volume 3 The Best of Bob Dylan ( 1997 ) The Best of Bob Dylan, Vol. 2 The Essential Bob Dylan Bob Dylan : The Collection The Best of Bob Dylan ( 2005 ) Blues Dylan The Original Mono Recordings The 50th Anniversary Collection Bob Dylan : The Complete Album Collection Vol. One The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963 The 50th Anniversary Collection 1964 Bootlegs Great White Wonder List of Basement Tapes songs ( 1967, 1975 ) The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 -- 3 ( Rare & Unreleased ) 1961 -- 1991 Volume 4 : The Royal Albert Hall concert Vol. 5 : Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue Vol. 6 : Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall Vol. 7 : No Direction Home : The Soundtrack Vol. 8 : Tell Tale Signs : Rare and Unreleased 1989 -- 2006 Vol. 9 : The Witmark Demos : 1962 -- 1964 Vol. 10 : Another Self Portrait ( 1969 -- 1971 ) Vol. 11 : The Basement Tapes Complete Vol. 12 : The Cutting Edge 1965 -- 1966 Vol. 13 : Trouble No More 1979 -- 1981 Concert tours England Tour ( 1965 ) World Tour ( 1966 ) Tour with The Band ( 1974 ) Rolling Thunder Revue ( 1975 -- 1976 ) World Tour ( 1978 ) Gospel Tour ( 1979 -- 1980 ) World Tour ( 1981 ) European Tour ( 1984 ) True Confessions Tour ( 1986 ) Tour with the Grateful Dead ( 1987 ) Temples in Flames Tour ( 1987 ) Never Ending Tour 1988 1989 1990 1991 1993 2017 2018 Films Dont Look Back Eat the Document Renaldo and Clara Masked and Anonymous No Direction Home I 'm Not There 65 Revisited The Other Side of the Mirror : Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963 -- 1965 Writings Tarantula Writings and Drawings Chronicles : Volume One Books about Dylan The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia Bob Dylan, Performing Artist Invisible Republic The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan Related Discography Awards Bibliography Songs written by Dylan The Band Electric Dylan controversy Theme Time Radio Hour Traveling Wilburys Artists who have covered Dylan songs Chimes of Freedom ( album ) The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams Lost on the River : The New Basement Tapes Suze Rotolo The Telegraph magazine Sara Dylan ( first wife ) Carolyn Dennis ( second wife ) Jesse Dylan ( son ) Jakob Dylan ( son ) Book Category Portal Bob Dylan singles discography 1962 `` Mixed - Up Confusion '' / `` Corrina, Corrina '' 1963 `` Blowin ' in the Wind '' / `` Do n't Think Twice, It 's All Right '' 1965 `` The Times They Are a-Changin ' '' / `` Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance '' `` Maggie 's Farm '' / `` On the Road Again '' `` Subterranean Homesick Blues '' / `` She Belongs to Me '' `` Like a Rolling Stone '' / `` Gates of Eden `` Positively 4th Street '' / `` From a Buick 6 '' `` Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window ? '' / `` Highway 61 Revisited '' 1966 `` One of Us Must Know ( Sooner or Later ) '' / `` Queen Jane Approximately '' `` Rainy Day Women ♯ 12 & 35 '' / `` Pledging My Time '' `` I Want You '' / `` Just Like Tom Thumb 's Blues '' ( live with The Hawks ) `` Just Like a Woman '' / `` Obviously 5 Believers '' 1967 `` Leopard - Skin Pill - Box Hat '' / `` Most Likely You Go Your Way And I 'll Go Mine '' `` If You Gotta Go, Go Now '' / `` To Ramona '' ( only in Europe ) 1968 `` Drifter 's Escape '' / `` John Wesley Harding '' `` All Along the Watchtower '' / `` I 'll Be Your Baby Tonight '' 1969 `` I Threw It All Away '' / `` Drifter 's Escape '' `` Lay Lady Lay '' / `` Peggy Day '' `` Tonight I 'll Be Staying Here with You '' / `` Country Pie '' 1970 `` If Not for You '' / `` New Morning '' `` Wigwam '' / `` Copper Kettle '' 1971 `` Watching the River Flow '' / `` Spanish is the Loving Tongue '' `` George Jackson '' ( band version ) / `` George Jackson '' ( acoustic version ) 1973 `` Knockin ' on Heaven 's Door '' / `` Turkey Chase '' ( instrumental from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid ) `` A Fool Such as I '' / `` Lily of the West '' `` On a Night Like This '' / `` You Angel You '' `` Something There Is About You '' / `` Tough Mama '' `` Most Likely You Go Your Way ( And I 'll Go Mine ) '' ( live with The Band ) `` All Along the Watchtower '' / `` It Ai n't Me Babe '' `` Tangled Up in Blue '' / `` If You See Her, Say Hello '' `` Million Dollar Bash '' / `` Tears of Rage '' `` Hurricane '' ( Part 1 ) / `` Hurricane '' ( Part 2 ) 1976 `` Mozambique '' / `` Oh Sister '' `` Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again '' ( live ) / `` Rita May '' 1978 `` Baby, Stop Crying '' / `` We Better Talk This Over '' `` Changing of the Guards '' / `` Señor ( Tales of Yankee Power ) '' `` Is Your Love In Vain ? '' / `` We Better Talk This Over '' 1979 `` Maggie 's Farm ( live ) / `` All Along the Watchtower '' `` Forever Young '' ( live ) / `` All Along the Watchtower '' / `` I Want You '' `` Man Gave Names to All the Animals '' / `` When You Gonna Wake Up ? '' `` Gotta Serve Somebody '' / `` Trouble in Mind '' `` Precious Angel '' / `` Trouble in Mind '' 1980 `` Slow Train '' / `` Do Right to Me Baby '' `` Solid Rock '' / `` Covenant Woman '' `` Saved '' / `` Are You Ready ? '' 1981 `` Heart of Mine '' / `` Let It Be Me '' `` Dead Man, Dead Man '' / `` Lenny Bruce '' `` Union Sundown '' / `` Angel Flying too Close to the Ground '' `` I and I '' / `` Angel Flying too Close to the Ground '' `` Sweetheart Like You '' / `` Union Sundown '' 1984 `` Jokerman '' / `` Isis '' 1985 `` Tight Connection to My Heart ( Has Anybody Seen My Love ) '' / `` We Better Talk this Over '' `` When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky '' / `` Emotionally Yours '' 1986 `` Band of the Hand '' / `` Joe 's Death '' ( Michael Rubini ) `` Got My Mind Made Up '' / `` The Usual '' 1988 `` Silvio '' / `` Driftin ' too Far from the Shore '' 1989 `` Everything Is Broken '' / `` Death is Not the End '' `` Slow Train '' ( live with The Grateful Dead ) 1990 `` Political World '' / `` Ring Them Bells '' ( only in the UK and Australia ) `` Most of the Time '' / `` Most of the Time ( edit piece ) `` Unbelievable '' / `` 10,000 Men '' 1991 `` Series of Dreams '' / `` Seven Curses '' `` Blind Willie McTell '' / `` It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry '' ( from The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 - 3 ) `` Step it Up and Go '' -- ( no b - side ) 1993 `` My Back Pages '' ( with Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, George Harrison ) -- ( no b - side ) 1995 `` Dignity '' ( live on MTV Unplugged ) / `` A Hard Rain 's a-Gonna Fall '' ( live version ) `` Knockin ' on Heaven 's Door '' / `` John Brown '' ( both live on MTV Unplugged ) 1998 `` Not Dark Yet '' / `` Tombstone Blues '' ( live ) / `` Ballad of a Thin Man '' ( live ) / `` Boots of Spanish Leather '' ( live ) `` Love Sick '' / `` Tombstone Blues '' ( live ) 2000 `` Things Have Changed '' / `` Make You Feel My Love '' ( live ) / `` Hurricane '' / `` Song to Woody '' ( live ) 2006 `` Someday Baby '' / `` Someday Baby '' ( edit piece ) `` Rollin ' and Tumblin ' '' / `` Not Dark Yet '' / `` High Water ( for Charley Patton ) '' 2007 `` Most Likely You Go Your Way ( And I 'll Go Mine ) '' ( Mark Ronson remix version ) / `` Most Likely You Go Your Way ( And I 'll Go Mine ) '' ( album version ) 2008 `` Dreamin ' of You '' ( edit piece ) / `` Dreamin ' of You '' ( album version ) 2009 `` Beyond Here Lies Nothin ' '' / `` Down Along the Cove '' ( live ) `` I Feel a Change Comin ' On '' / `` I Feel a Change Comin ' On '' ( edit piece ) `` Must Be Santa '' / `` ' Twas the Night Before Christmas '' `` The Times They Are a-Changin ' '' ( demo version ) / `` Like a Rolling Stone '' 2012 `` Duquesne Whistle '' 2013 `` Wigwam '' ( demo version ) / `` Thirsty Boots '' Jimi Hendrix Original 1966 -- 1970 releases are marked in bold. Studio albums Are You Experienced Axis : Bold as Love Electric Ladyland The Cry of Love Rainbow Bridge War Heroes Loose Ends Crash Landing Midnight Lightning Nine to the Universe Voodoo Soup First Rays of the New Rising Sun Valleys of Neptune People, Hell and Angels Live albums Band of Gypsys Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival Experience Isle of Wight Hendrix in the West More Experience The Jimi Hendrix Concerts Jimi Plays Monterey Johnny B. Goode Band of Gypsys 2 Live at Winterland Radio One Stages Live Isle of Wight ' 70 Woodstock BBC Sessions Live at the Fillmore East Live at Woodstock Blue Wild Angel : Live at the Isle of Wight Live at Berkeley Live at Monterey Winterland Miami Pop Festival Freedom : Atlanta Pop Festival Machine Gun : The Fillmore East First Show Compilations Smash Hits Soundtrack Recordings from the Film Jimi Hendrix Musique Originale du Film Jimi Plays Berkeley Re-Experienced The Essential Jimi Hendrix The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume Two Stone Free The Singles Album Kiss the Sky Live & Unreleased : The Radio Show Cornerstones : 1967 -- 1970 Lifelines : The Jimi Hendrix Story Stages The Ultimate Experience Blues South Saturn Delta Experience Hendrix : The Best of Jimi Hendrix The Jimi Hendrix Experience Voodoo Child : The Jimi Hendrix Collection The Singles Collection Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues : Jimi Hendrix West Coast Seattle Boy : The Jimi Hendrix Anthology Fire : The Jimi Hendrix Collection Official bootlegs Live at the Oakland Coliseum Live at Clark University Morning Symphony Ideas Live in Ottawa Baggy 's Rehearsal Sessions Paris 1967 / San Francisco 1968 Hear My Music Live at the Isle of Fehmarn Burning Desire Live in Paris & Ottawa 1968 Live at Woburn Live in Cologne Concert tours The Jimi Hendrix Experience French Tour The Cry of Love Tour Films, books, tributes Rainbow Bridge Jimi Hendrix Stone Free : A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix Hendrix Power of Soul : A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix Room Full of Mirrors An Illustrated Experience Becoming Jimi Hendrix Jimi : All Is by My Side Related people and acts Curtis Knight Lonnie Youngblood Jimmy James and the Blue Flames The Jimi Hendrix Experience Noel Redding Mitch Mitchell Chas Chandler Eddie Kramer Roger Mayer Michael Jeffery Billy Cox Buddy Miles Alan Douglas Leon Hendrix Kathy Etchingham Monika Dannemann Related articles Original discography Posthumous discography List of songs Videography Canadian drug charges and trial Electric Lady Studios Black Gold Death of Jimi Hendrix Book Category Jimi Hendrix songs Are You Experienced ( UK & US ) `` Foxy Lady '' `` Manic Depression '' `` Red House '' `` I Do n't Live Today '' `` May This Be Love '' `` Fire '' `` Third Stone from the Sun '' `` Are You Experienced ? '' `` Purple Haze '' `` Hey Joe '' `` The Wind Cries Mary '' Axis : Bold as Love `` Up from the Skies '' `` Spanish Castle Magic '' `` Wait Until Tomorrow '' `` Little Wing '' `` If 6 Was 9 '' `` Castles Made of Sand '' `` One Rainy Wish '' `` Bold as Love '' Smash Hits ( UK & US ) `` Stone Free '' `` The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam 's Dice '' `` Highway Chile '' `` Burning of the Midnight Lamp '' `` Crosstown Traffic '' `` All Along the Watchtower '' Electric Ladyland `` Have You Ever Been ( To Electric Ladyland ) '' `` Voodoo Chile '' `` Come On ( Part One ) '' `` Gypsy Eyes '' `` 1983... ( A Merman I Should Turn to Be ) `` Voodoo Child ( Slight Return ) '' Band of Gypsys `` Machine Gun '' Historic Performances at Monterey Pop `` Like a Rolling Stone '' `` Rock Me Baby '' `` Wild Thing '' The Cry of Love `` Freedom '' `` Ezy Ryder '' `` My Friend '' `` Angel '' Rainbow Bridge `` Dolly Dagger '' `` The Star - Spangled Banner '' `` Hear My Train A Comin ' '' Hendrix in the West `` The Queen '' `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band '' `` Johnny B. Goode '' `` Blue Suede Shoes '' War Heroes `` Bleeding Heart '' `` Peter Gunn '' `` Stepping Stone '' Loose Ends `` The Drifter 's Escape '' `` I 'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man ''... And a Happy New Year `` The Little Drummer Boy '' `` Silent Night '' `` Auld Lang Syne '' Radio One / BBC Sessions `` Day Tripper `` Killing Floor '' `` Hound Dog '' `` I Was Made to Love Her '' `` Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window ? '' `` Sunshine of Your Love '' Other compilations `` Gloria '' `` Peace in Mississippi '' `` Born Under a Bad Sign '' `` Mannish Boy '' `` It 's Too Bad '' `` Dear Mr. Fantasy '' `` Valleys of Neptune '' `` Tears of Rage '' `` Testify '' `` Mercy, Mercy '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=All_Along_the_Watchtower&oldid=821344266 '' Categories : Songs written by Bob Dylan Bob Dylan songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients 1968 singles 1967 songs The Jimi Hendrix Experience songs Dave Matthews Band songs U2 songs Grateful Dead songs Folk songs Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston Columbia Records singles Track Records singles Reprise Records singles Polydor Records singles Hidden categories : Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles with hAudio microformats Articles lacking in - text citations from January 2014 All articles lacking in - text citations Articles needing additional references from November 2016 All articles needing additional references CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Euskara فارسی Français Italiano Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk nynorsk Polski Русский Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 January 2018, at 22 : 00. 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Question: who wrote the song all along the watch tower
Answer: Bob Dylan