"All Along the Watchtower" ist ursprünglich ein Musikstück von Bob Dylan. Es erschien auf seinem Album John Wesley Harding, das am 27. Dezember 1967 veröffentlicht wurde.
In musikalisch deutlich veränderter Form wurde "All Along the Watchtower" 1968 durch Jimi Hendrix bekannt, der den Titel um sein psychedelisches Gitarrenspiel ergänzte und eine neue Rhythmik einführte.
Lyrics
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!
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, uh. 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, hey!
All along the watchtower. Princes kept the view. While all the women came and went. Barefoot servants too. Well, uh, outside in the cold distance. A wild cat did growl. Two riders were approaching. And the wind began to howl, hey!