On This Day (1968): Jimi Hendrix charted with Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”

All Along the Watchtower Bob Dylan

Writer(s): Bob Dylan (see lyrics here) Released: December 6, 1967 (album cut) Peak: 5 CL, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.6 video, -- streaming

All Along the Watchtower The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Released: September 2, 1968 First Charted: September 14, 1968 Peak: 20 US, 18 CB, 8 GR, 18 HR, 1 CL, 5 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 229.53 video, 637.05 streaming

Awards (Dylan): Click on award for more details. Awards (Hendrix):

About the Song: Jimi Hendrix is largely credited with reinventing the electric guitar and his prowess is never more apparent than on his take on Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” “Raging and climactic where Dylan’s had been soft-paced and relaxed,” AMG Hendrix’s version pulls off the rare feat of giving the world a cover that outdoes its original source. After hearing Hendrix tackle it, “you can’t imagine it...any other way.” BBC Dylan himself has admitted that in his subsequent performances of the song, he strove to emulate Hendrix’s version. RS500 “When I sing it,” Dylan said, “ I… feel like it’s a tribute to him.” LW Dylan first recorded the song for 1968’s John Wesley Harding. Musically, the song is a perfect example of why Dylan songs lend themselves so easily to re-interpretation. “Aside from a few harmonica flourishes, it is a fairly basic affair,” BBC both “direct and unadorned.” LW Lyrically, the song took the form of a conversation between a joker and a thief in “an allegorical tale about the sweeping away of society’s old guard.” BBC Peppered with “Biblical imagery and apocalyptic words,” AMG the original has “such an odd, abstract lyric that hardly anyone…could have held on long enough to spot the song hidden within,” DM but Hendrix’s interpretation does so, “obliterating the lyric’s pretensions” DM and giving the song an “urgency and edginess…far more in keeping with its apocalyptic message.” BBC While at a party, Hendrix proclaimed to Traffic’s Dave Mason his interest in recording the song just a few weeks after its release. Just days later, the pair assembled with drummer Mitch Mitchell at London’s Olympic Studios to nail down their rendition AMG that has now become a rock standard. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jimi Hendrix DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Bob Dylan AMG All Music Guide review by Thomas Ward BBC BBC Radio 2 (2004). “Sold on Song Top 100” LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 129. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 147. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/2004). The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Related Links: Last updated 9/5/2023.

Today in Music (1968): Simon & Garfunkel hit #1 with “Mrs. Robinson”

Mrs. Robinson Simon & Garfunkel

Writer(s): Paul Simon (see lyrics here) Released: April 5, 1968 First Charted: April 27, 1968 Peak: 13 US, 14 CB, 11 GR, 13 HR, 4 AC, 1 CL, 4 UK, 12 CN, 8 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 7.0 radio, 103.2 video, 515.93 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Mrs. Robinson” and its resulting soundtrack kickstarted an industry. Previously, getting kids to plop down cash for the mood-setting music of a movie “was considered absurd.” TB Ironically, though, that song was the only new cut amongst a collection of previously released Simon & Garfunkel songs. Even then, the version of “Mrs. Robinson” which is best known is not the one from the movie, but the more-fleshed out radio version available on S&G’s Bookends album. TB Director Mike Nichols tapped the famed folk duo to do music for his film The Graduate. The iconic film starred Dustin Hoffman as a young man seduced by his girlfriend’s mother (Mrs. Robinson – played by Anne Bancroft). However, while Paul Simon was working up new material, Nichols was temporarily filling those spots with the duo’s older songs. In the end, Nichols grew fond of the older material and only one new song made it into the film – “Mrs. Robinson.” FB The song began life as an instrumental and, at one time, was being written as “Mrs. Roosevelt”, seemingly about Eleanor Roosevelt. SF It was Art Garfunkel who suggested naming the song after Bancroft’s character. Simon then fleshed the song out to become an even broader commentary on American culture in the ‘60s, famously using baseball player Joe DiMaggio as a symbol of people searching for heroes. In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said “it’s one of the most well-known lines that I’ve ever written.” SF Interestingly, the song would seem to have been a perfect candidate to win an Oscar for Best Song from a Movie, but S&G never filled out the forms necessary to have the song considered. SF Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 241. SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 102. Related Links: First posted 4/27/2012; updated 10/111/2023.