All Along the Watchtower

[Anonymous No.15207738]

There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men they drink my wine
Plowman dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth

No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I have been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
The wind began to howl.

Any Dylan fanboys on /lit/? What are your thoughts on All Along The Watchtower? Do you prefer the Hendrix version? Was/is it Dylan's greatest work? Thoughts on Dylan or cool tidbits to share?

To me, the words describe a kind of meta story, of mankind's attempts to transcend himself and how that all shakes out. It's commonly observed that the structure of the song suggest a sort of cyclical nature to the story, that what is happening will continue to go on and on without end. A joker and a thief to me are romantic and pragmatic nature of the human being. Two ways of being, two meta copes, if you will. The joker sees the futility of it all and laughs about it but doing so never gets him anywhere, he is not laughing when he pines for a way out. The thief is the pragmatist, he steals what he needs to survive, he tells the joker to relax. Bids him to trust in himself. The fact that the joker is looking for a way out suggests to me that the two riders' approach is blind. They can not see the tower. They only know there must be something in the wilderness of it all. Something.

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[Anonymous No.15207743]

The tower symbol I believe is the great eye of humanity, it is built by all the men who have seen furthest before. The princes keeping the view to me are the rockstars, the scientists, the leaders, the gladiators. Not simply the victors (business men drink my wine, don't know what it's worth), but whomever sees farthest. The ones who look upon that which only they can see from their height.
The women coming seems self explanatory. Woman seek the men on top. Men at the top can have women coming and going. Nuff said.
The barefoot servants one is not clear to me. They could be simple tools employed by the princes. The guys who run out to get drugs for them. Or it could mean they keep sights too, but are not rewarded for their endeavor, hence being barefoot.
The wildcat growling suggests they might not make it. Nature may get them before they arrive.

Do these interpretations match yours? What do you think?

The lines change between the Dylan and the Hendrix version:
None of them along the line
know what any of it is worth
becomes:
(None on the level of the mind
Nobody up at his word)

Personally I prefer the Hendrix line, seems more on the head to me.

Dylan once said "That song doesn't belong to me anymore".
What do you think he means by that? Did Hendrix create something new? Did amending a line make it his? Did his guitar playing make it his? Or maybe Dylan simply means he isn't the person who wrote the song anymore.

And last question: Has anyone heard Dylan's new song "Murder Most Foul"? Dylan fans must listen. Warning, it will make you sad.

and....
DYLAN THREAD LETS GOOOOOO

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[Anonymous No.15207755]

Wow, this Dylan guy is a real pseud.

[Anonymous No.15207803]

>>15207738
I have never understood or tried to understand what he meant by this. Love JWH but the Hendrix version is superior as a song of course

[Anonymous No.15208024]

>>15207738
I think it's probably just a basic-bitch class conflict/viva la revolucion narrative. The joker is a satirist but the thief goes further as an actual transgressor. I suppose you could interpret the thief as trusting in karma or something, but the ending suggests that he initiates rebellion. A joke is their fate though, because even on the off-chance of success they'd just become princes themselves.

Hendrix version is musically superior, of course.

Zimmerman is a pretentious liberal jew with a talent for composing catchy pop-folk. His lyrics are banal sentimentality for the most part, but he peppers them with just enough esotericism to seem 'deep' to normies.

[Anonymous No.15209063]

Bump

[Anonymous No.15209099]

Imagine writing all this out for a fucking Dylan song

[Anonymous No.15209191]

>>15207738
>tfw I just realized the original version was Dylan's and not Hendrix's

[Anonymous No.15209345]

>>15207738
My favorite album of his is Desire, I think the album's of a piece so I really don't have a favorite song off of it (I even think Joey's great, which many people I've encountered claim to despise) but Isis with its mix of Mexican and Egyptian mythological motifs is certainly one of his more pleasing 'quest' songs, and Mozambique one of his 'happier' songs, in general. Quest (from different perspectives, whether participating in one oneself to watching a news story about a failed one on TV, as in Black Diamond Bay) seems to be the album's central theme, which is a contrast to that of guardianship (of a kind of rapidly decaying authenticity?) in Watchtower. One More Cup of Coffee is interesting in this connection because in this song the quest is over, the girl's been saved, but.. now what?
>Your breath is sweet
>Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky
>Your back is straight your hair is smooth
>On the pillow where you lie
>But I don't sense affection or gratitude or love
>Your loyalty is not to me but to the stars above
>One more cup of coffee for the road
>One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
>To the valley below..
The entire song recounts his situation at that moment, one feels he's looking for some way to make it last, but at the same knows that there is no place for him there, --he's been thanked, game over. What lends the song a slight hope is that the valley itself is 'as mysterious and dark' as the bandit's daughter's heart, and there lies (the hope is) further adventure. What the song captures so brilliantly is that pause of uncertainty between the phases of one's life. The book it brought to mind for me was Byron's Don Juan (if momentarily felt in a darker register).

[Anonymous No.15209370]

>>15207738
Get absolutely nothing from his performance/arrangements (until covered by others), but the texts clearly recommend themselves. That extended JFK song was timely, with the Kennedy grandchildren doing that 'Timber Wolf' call out

[Anonymous No.15209434]

I like this song

[Anonymous No.15209459]

>>15207738
>o me, the words describe a kind of meta story, of mankind's attempts to transcend himself and how that all shakes out. It's commonly observed that the structure of the song suggest a sort of cyclical nature to the story, that what is happening will continue to go on and on without end. A joker and a thief to me are romantic and pragmatic nature of the human being. Two ways of being, two meta copes, if you will. The joker sees the futility of it all and laughs about it but doing so never gets him anywhere, he is not laughing when he pines for a way out. The thief is the pragmatist, he steals what he needs to survive, he tells the joker to relax. Bids him to trust in himself. The fact that the joker is looking for a way out suggests to me that the two riders' approach is blind. They can not see the tower. They only know there must be something in the wilderness of it all. Something.


Imagine writing all this out for a fucking Dylan song

[Anonymous No.15209600]

>>15209459
Imagine writing at all, anon. OP actually wrote very little.

[Anonymous No.15210281]

>>15207738
>>15207743
>>15209345
Appreciate these, Dylanons