Lyr Req: All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

Subject: Along the Watchtower?
From: GUEST,Kryptonium
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 01:20 AM

Hi

I was wondering about a certain song "Along the watchtower" by Bob Dylan, Hendrix, and even the Dave Matthews Band possibly more but who knows. Is this song a Folk song and if not could you help me anyways I would read the Post from a while ago (This is mike I lived With Catspaw49 as a foster child) And you guys seemed to find any Lyric that some one would want And i was very impressed (speaking of spaw has anyone heard from him?) if you could please help me on this one i would be greatly appreciative. thanks Kryptonium/aka mike

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: The Beanster
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 03:29 AM

Kryptonium (Mike)--

Living with spaw must have been an interesting experience! :) And sure, he's around here somewhere--he usually appears out of nowhere when you least expect it.

You can find the lyrics to All Along the Watchtower here: Click here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: catspaw49
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 09:58 AM

Hey Mike......Saw that "Kryptonium" and figured it was you! So how's tricks? Haven't heard from you lately, but I assume no news is good news. Then again, I'm still trying to find a decent call-in program so I know if someone's calling when we're online.

And BTW, All the Dylan Lyrics are HERE

Later

Pat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: GUEST,Kryptonium
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 12:52 PM

Thanks And yes it was interesting living with catspaw along a great learning experience learned more there then ever I will help you look It might be hard finding one that will work with the phone lines out there but i'll search and let you know if i find anything

once again thanx Mike/Kryptonium

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER (Bob Dylan)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 09:13 PM

You can find all of Dylan's lyrics (except the new ones he is constantly adding to his songs in live concerts) at:

BobDylan.com

Check it out.

All Along The Watchtower is a very interesting song that came off an album of songs which were almost all religious (although not overtly religious) in nature. He referred to it in an interview as "the first religious rock album ever"...actually it was not rock but rather a sort of rootsy folk sound, I'd say...acoustic guitar, harmonica, bass, and rather quiet drums.

The songs are pretty well all spiritual parables about Dylan's own life struggle, his fall from grace, his dance with fame and its pitfalls, his deliverance from death and his redemption.

All Along The Watchtower is a very apocalyptic vision which takes in the whole world. Dylan is "the joker". His manager, Albert Grossman, is most likely "the thief".

There must be some way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Businessmen they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
Not a one of them along the line
Knows what any of it is worth

(That's a beautiful description of Dylan, trapped in his career and fame, being exploited by business parasites and the press and crazed fans, desperately wanting out.)

No need 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 we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late

(There are always far too many among us who feel that life is but a joke, and their main attention is usually upon the money...or whatever else they think they can distract themselves with...sex, fame, whatever. They fiddle while Eden burns all around them.)

(There's a judgement coming for such...)

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the ladies came and went, barefoot servants too
Somewhere in the distance, a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl

(The last verse is stunningly eerie and apocalyptic. The princes, those in command of society, watch from the battlements. A great storm is coming. A wildcat growls a warning. Two riders are coming at the head of the storm. In one sense the two riders are Dylan and Grossman, linking back to the start of the song. In another sense they are...Christ, on a white horse...and someone else...the Antichrist? Death? or who? The storm wind howls...the hour is indeed getting late. So mind your place on the battlements, and attend to your armour, sword, and shield...which are Truth, Love, and Forgiveness.)

I will add to this the final verse from one of my own songs:

Mind your place on the battlements
Honour the High Command
And don't be caught asleep on guard
Without a sword in your right hand
The Enemy is at the Eastern Gate
And the West is all in flames
It's burning down like Jerusalem
In the fires of regret and shame

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 09:30 PM

As has been discussed here in many threads, Dylan took his songs from many sources. Is "Watchtower" related to any songs written by others, or is it a true original?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: catspaw49
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 09:52 PM

I've not heard anything about this song myself Joe, but Arlo does a tremendous job with it. There's an obvious similarity of sound with Arlo, but his musical sense and feel for a song is always good and when he does this one, it really comes off well.

There is a pretty decent page on Dylan influences HERE.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 16 Sep 00 - 11:44 PM

The Watchtower is the magazine of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Art

Subject: Along the Watchtower -meaning?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Sep 00 - 12:01 AM

Well, Art, now that you mention it, I did wonder if there was a biblical connection. I pulled out a concordance, and here's what I found:

• II Chronicles 20, verse 24: And when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
• Isaiah 21, verses 5-9: Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and I am set in my ward whole nights. And behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

So does any of that have anything to do with the song? I dunno.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Sep 00 - 12:33 AM

It may have something to do with it, but my impression is that Dylan writes instinctively, rather than by calculation, so I doubt that he looked up the verses and put the images in the song afterward. More likely, those images simply arose out of his subconscious (or superconscious, to use a term popular in spiritual circles...the source of divine inspiration).

Leonard Cohen, on the other hand, does a great deal of conscious tinkering with lyrics, over sometimes many months or even years before he finishes a song to his satisfaction. He had one with over 50 verses, as I recall, and pared it down finally to 7 or 8.

Dylan and Cohen are 2 of my Jewish heroes...among others.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Along the Watchtower?
From: GUEST,Kryptonium
Date: 17 Sep 00 - 02:43 AM

Wow i am truly inpressed its amazing how many repys you can get in this Forum thanx

Kryptonium AKA mike

---

Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Req: All Along The Watchtower
From: Pogo
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 08:56 PM

I've found several different versions of the song and it gets quite confusing, which is the correct and original lyrics? I've seen one version that says " The princess kept her view " and another that says " Princes kept their view " as well as a lot of other little differences here and there. Can anybody clear it up for me? Thank ya :) It's for a little project of mine and I want to get the lyrics right.

(:D Unless it's like " Scuse me while I kiss this guy/Scuse me while I piss the sky/scuse me while I kiss the sky "...where it's all according to how you hear it)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Along The Watchtower
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 09:07 PM

From an "official" Dylan site:

All Along The Watchtower