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Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower (information, lyrics, & iYouTube examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases Jimi Hendrix's iconic performance of Bob Dylan's song "All Along The Watchtower".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to Jimi Hendrix and the Jimi Hendrix Experience for their musical legacy and thanks to Bob Dylan for composing this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT JIMI HENDRIX
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix
"Birth name Johnny Allen Hendrix
Born November 27, 1942
Seattle, Washington, US
Died September 18, 1970 (aged 27)
Kensington, London, UK
Genres
Rock psychedelic rock hard rock blues R&B
Occupation(s)
Musician songwriter producer
Instruments
Guitar vocals
Years active 1963–1970

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".[1]

{...]

Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in utilizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock, and was the first artist to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began.[3]"...

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LYRICS: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
(as sung by Jimi Hendrix)

[Verse 1]
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
Businessmen they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody offered his word, hey

[Verse 2]
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
Hey

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
Hey

[Outro]
All along the watchtower
All along the watchtower

Source: https://genius.com/The-jimi-hendrix-experience-all-along-the-watchtower-lyrics

About "All Along The Watchtower" from that website [three contributors]:
"The great Hendrix covered Bob Dylan’s sparse original for his album Electric Ladyland and gave new life to it. It’s noted for its cryptic lyrics, and this version is known for the solo before the final verse.

The lyrics have been decoded for the Dylan version, and can be found here. [https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-all-along-the-watchtower-lyrics]

[...]

Hendrix takes Dylan’s song and rewrites the music to expand and highlight the meaning of the lyrics.

[...]"

**
"What was Bob Dylan’s reaction upon hearing Hendrix's rendition?

In the accompanying booklet for his album Biograph, Dylan said:

I liked Jimi Hendrix’s record of this and ever since he died I’ve been doing it that way. Funny though, his way of doing it and my way of doing it weren’t that dismissive… Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way.
"
-"niiicola
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8wM6_DuMgg for a YouTube sound file of Bob Dylan- "All Along The Watchtower" (Original)

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower (Official Audio)



JimiHendrixVEVO, Published on Oct 5, 2012
-snip-
Here's a comment from a blogger who quoted a music critic's words about Jimi Hendrix:
Atomic Lobotomy, 2018
""Jimi Hendrix blazed through our lives like a fireball-supernova that most likely originated in a black hole in the middle of some uncharted universe. This was not just some Elvis or Beatle—everything about Hendrix was otherworldly. He had an understanding of sonics and how they related to music, which no human had ever conceived before. He was able to express these non-verbal expressions as blasts of feedback and warfare emulations; personal, unique grace notes that were apropos for the times in which he performed. Before his genius reached maturity (he died at age 27), all that was left were some blinking sparks in the tail of a once-in-a-lifetime comet. A true alien in his lifetime—now as an immortal—too much wasted effort is spent by others in trying to compartmentalize him." From Al Kooper"

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Example #2: Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower - Live Atlanta 7-4-70 - VOCAL/GUITAR only



Idunopicksomething, Published on Nov 10, 2012

This is the isolated vocal track from the Atlanta show and the isolated guitar track.

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