Jimi Hendrix

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

"There must be some kind of way out of here,"

Said the joker to the thief,

"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.

Business men – 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's getting late."

All along the watchtower

Princess kept their view

While all the women came and went

Bare-foot servants too

Outside in the cold distance

A wild cat did growl

Two riders were approaching

And the wind began to howl, hey.

"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.[2] 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.