40 All Along the Watchtower

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE 1968

“All Along the Watchtower” had just been released on Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding when Hendrix began tinkering with the song at New York’s Electric Lady Studios in January 1968. Using the line “And the wind began to howl” as a springboard, Hendrix constructed a tumultuous four-part solo that transformed Dylan’s concise foreboding into an electric hurricane. Dylan acknowledged Hendrix’s masterstroke: His subsequent ”Watchtower” renditions, including the treatment on his 1974 reunion tour with the Band, emulated Hendrix’s version.