All Along the Watchtower

This one is a go-to song for any band or artist trying to prove they can play the guitar, and has been covered, by my estimates, 8.3 million times. Such efforts usually range from unimpressive to howling disasters. Ask your typical axe man whose song this is, and he will, no doubt, cough up Jimi Hendrix, and I don’t blame him. Jimi’s version appears at number #48 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs Ever, and in 2000, British magazine Total Guitar put it at the top of the list of the Greatest Cover Versions of All Time. It’s a fantastic rendition, to say the least. But Bob Dylan is the OG, and released it on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding.

My favorite rendition is by (don’t tease me) Dave Matthews Band. I love the tense, quiet build-up, the way Dave cackles “No reason to get excited” right as the crowd screams in anticipation, and the thrilling release as the band erupts into mayhem. There are several live versions of this song, and it is a DMB concert staple, but I am partial to the Folsom Field version, which clocks in at a moderate nine minutes.



Jimi Hendrix



For the original, listen here.