Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ Cover Turns 57, Still Rocks Today

On September 2, 1968, Jimi Hendrix released his take on "All Along the Watchtower." According to American Songwriter, the track shot to number 20 on Billboard's Hot 100, marking his sole Top 40 success in the U.S.

Taking Bob Dylan's stripped-down folk song, Hendrix crafted a wild, electric storm of sound. His version, packed with searing guitar work and thunderous intensity, landed on Electric Ladyland. The fresh spin sparked a chain reaction through rock music.

"He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them," said Bob Dylan to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. ... I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."

The remake struck Dylan with such force that it changed his own approach forever. Since then, Dylan's live shows have mixed in touches of Hendrix's interpretation.

Before his death in 1970, Hendrix spoke of his admiration for Dylan's writing craft. The original track came out on Dylan's John Wesley Harding in late '67. Within months, Hendrix transformed it into his biggest U.S. hit —  a striking fact for a musician known as one of rock's most gifted guitarists.

At the 2015 MusiCares event, Dylan praised Hendrix's vision. "He took some small songs of mine that nobody paid any attention to and pumped them up into the outer limits of the stratosphere and turned them all into classics," Dylan said, as reported by American Songwriter.

The track grew past its creators. It rang out at civil rights marches and anti-war protests in the late '60s. Today, it still shows up in films and shows about that era, its power undiminished by time.