You can thank Michael Goldstein. He worked for Jimi Hendrix as his publicist and also worked for Albert Grossman, who was Bob Dylan’s manager. In late 1967, Goldstein played a prerelease version of Bob Dylan’s album “John Welsey Harding” for Hendrix and that is when he first heard and fell in love with “All Along the Watchtower.” Goldstein then got Hendrix copies of the acetates so he could hear the song as many times as he wanted.
Dylan’s original version is spare and acoustic, though intense and threatening. Hendrix reimagined the song. In doing so, Hendrix recorded what may be the greatest cover ever. And he showed how to do it. So many artists treat songs as if they are fragile, need to be handled with great care and replicated as is. Who wants to hear that? Hendrix understood what the song meant to him and found a way to convey that in his recording.
It took many sessions to get it right. At one point, Brian Jones, he of the Rolling Stones, wandered into the studio, drunk, and hopped on a piano, until Hendrix threw him out. Noel Redding, the bass player, walked out in frustration, so Dave Mason jumped in.
What did Dylan think of Hendrix’s version? All you need to know is that Dylan has played his version of what became Hendrix’s song ever since, never returning to the acoustic version as he first cut it. Dylan has performed it live 2,300 times.
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