On this day in 1968, Jimi Hendrix released his version of “All Along the Watchtower”

The song was written by Bob Dylan in 1967, following an 18 month hiatus after his 1966 motorcycle accident, a period which also saw the birth of two children. Dylan claims the idea for the song came to him during a thunderstorm, and it was recorded in November of 1967 during t he sessions for his eighth studio album, John Wesley Harding, released the following month.

Jimi Hendrix was a long-time admirer of Dylan’s writing and had been given a recording of several of his unreleased recordings in 1967, and was inspired to try his hand at recording one of the songs. Engineer Andy Johns recalls Hendrix coming into the studio with the tape, with a plan to record “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” but changed his mind to “All Along the Watchtower”. This would mark the second time Hendrix had adapted a Dylan song, the first being his version of “Like a Rolling Stone” performed at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Hendrix’s regular engineer Eddie Kramer recalls great difficulties with recording the song. He performed a large number of takes on the first day of recording in January of 1968, and bassist Noel Redding left the studio, dissatisfied with the song. Dave Mason took over on bass, but Hendrix would end up recording his own bass parts for the final mix. Rolling Stones member Brian Jones also contributed, adding the dry rattles featured in the intro. 

The song was mixed in late January, but Hendrix was unhappy with the results and continued recording and over-dubbing over the following months, moving the recording from a four-track to a sixteen-track. Each overdub involved wiping massive amounts of the track, delaying the song further and further. After it’s eventual release, the song peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, his highest ranking in America and only Top 40 at the time. It performed even better in the UK, reaching number 5. Dylan himself gave the song great praise in British Magazine Melody Maker, pleasing Hendrix immensely. Despite the positive reactions Hendrix didn’t seem to enjoy performing the song, and it disappeared from his shows after just three months.