Every wildly successful rock band, or musician, with the capable skills must cover one specific song to receive utmost respect. This song has been covered by many of your favorite bands. My personal opinion is that covering this song successfully proves your worth as a musician; this is clearly a completely biased and unreasonable measure of worth, so take this with a grain of salt. Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” has become this emblem of dexterity in the cover realm of live music, first made popular by Jimi Hendrix. The beauty of this classic song is its adaptability. A variety of bands are able to cover the song and are capable of incorporating their own strengths and sound into the cover. This cover is interesting in that bands often cover the Jimi Hendrix version instead of Bob Dylan’s; neither better than the other, but two very different takes on the song. Listening to each cover, I look for the singer to exclaim, “No reason to get excited,” as the music begins to pick up, ultimately ending in a zealous jam session. Here are my rankings for some of the covers, not an exhaustive list, but one that needs attention:
1. Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower”: Coming in at number one on most lists of best cover songs of all time, there is no question regarding where Hendrix’s cover falls in the rankings. Oftentimes, the Hendrix cover gets mistaken for the original, but Dylan’s folksy original serves as the inspiration for Hendrix’s aggressively powerful rock and roll rendition. While Dylan’s original comes in at two minutes 31 seconds, Hendrix jams out for four minutes, one of the shorter covers. Despite being shorter, this cover is chockfull of Hendrix’s guitar expertise and gravely voice, filling up the time and cover with obvious passion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY
2. Dave Matthews Band’s “All Along The Watchtower”: Dave Matthews and company performed this spectacular cover at Woodstock in 1999. The band is able to incorporate aspects of the Hendrix cover and Dylan original. Matthews’ voice is undeniably folksy and Boyd Tinsley’s violin solo stays true to the original sound. Meanwhile, the late LeRoi Moore slays the saxophone, making the cover a jazzier rendition. Each member of the band exudes their unique proficiencies, creating one of the more zealous covers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1VZeybqjLM
3. Eric Clapton and Lenny Kravitz’s “All Along The Watchtower”: I don’t know if you have picked up on an underlying theme here, but most of these covers feature some of best guitarists of recent years. Clapton’s guitar-playing is definitely not an exception. This cover is interesting in its coming-together of the two talented performers. Closely similar to Hendrix’s version, Clapton plays away on the guitar while Kravitz provides vocals.
4. Moon Taxi’s “All Along The Watchtower”: Having seen this cover performed live, I have a newfound respect for this rendition. The band first performed “All Along The Watchtower” at Dylanfest with Tom Blankenship, bassist from My Morning Jacket. Moon Taxi covers the Hendrix cover, but their interesting spin comes from keyboardist Wes Bailey. Around three minutes into the cover, Bailey’s solo begins and he emulates the passion found on the guitar in the other covers through his keyboard playing. It is truthfully something to behold; he works up a sweat as he bangs on the keys in the most aesthetically pleasing way for close to three minutes. Then, Trevor comes in with the third verse almost as if Bailey’s piano solo did not happen, but it’s close to impossible to forget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzcD-1IuUxM
Other notable performances: U2, John Mayer, Neil Young, Grateful Dead.
