Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and "All Along the Watchtower" in Minnesota 2004: "Two riders were approaching"

“All Along the Watchtower” is a song composed by one of America’s most influential singer-songwriters, Bob Dylan (born May 24, 1941). The song was first featured on Bob’s eighth studio album, John Wesley Harding, which was released in December 1967. All twelve songs on the album were written while Bob was recovering at his home in Woodstock, New York, from a horrendous motorcycle accident. All twelve songs present vivid imagery by way of a new, concise style and express, clearly as well as subtly, spiritual themes and outlooks. Bob later remarked:

“What I’m trying to do now is not use too many words. There’s no line that you can stick your finger through, there’s no hole in any of the stanzas. There’s no blank filler. Each line has something.”

“All Along the Watchtower” is one of the sparsest, yet most powerful, of all of Bob’s compositions. Its elusive, vivid starkness conveys layers of meaning and creates a multitude of mysterious, vivid images --- all within a musical context that echoes and enhances the evocative lyrics by weaving and swirling in, through, and around them. “All Along the Watchtower” is truly a masterpiece of lyrical and musical atmosphere.

This tantalizing song is linked to five lines (verses 5 through 9) in one of the Bible’s most eloquent and most powerful books, the Book of Isaiah. In the 21^st chapter of Isaiah, the “God of Israel” proclaims the downfall of three enemies of the Israelites: Babylon, Edom, and Arabia. The relevant verses pertain to a vision about watchfulness in preparation for a change, the downfall of Babylon, which, although desired, causes dismay: “My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; the night for which I longed He turned into fear for me” (verse 4).

5) Prepare the table,

Set a watchman in the tower,

Eat and drink.

Arise, you princes,

Anoint the shield!

6) For thus has the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman,

Let him declare what he sees.”

7) And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,

A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,

And he listened earnestly with great care.

8) Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!

I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime;

I have sat at my post every night.

9) And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”

Then he answered and said,

“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!

And all the carved images of her gods

He has broken to the ground.”

“All Along the Watchtower” is one of the most-performed of all of Bob Dylan’s songs, by the artist himself and by other musicians, including the legendary left-handed guitarist Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942-September 18, 1970), whose recordings and performances of the song are considered by many as the standard against which all other versions are compared. In fact, Bob was overwhelmed by Jimi’s expressions of the song:

“It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn’t think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using.” (Bob Dolen, “A Midnight Chat with Bob Dylan,” September 29, 1995).

Each musician and each group who perform “All Along the Watchtower” bring something to the song, so that it is constantly evolving yet remaining true to itself. A dynamic version was performed in 2004 by Canada’s legendary, amazing, and extraordinary Neil Young (born November 12, 1945) in duo with America’s great, exquisite troubadour, Bruce Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), whose ability to capture the confusion and frequently frustrating dichotomy between the American dream and its reality are almost unparalleled ("There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief").

Bob himself has transformed the song over the decades, emphasizing and expanding it musically. Also recently he has taken to repeating the first stanza at the end, which really underscores the confusion and misunderstanding that are proliferated by false talk and clouded vision:

“None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”

This line is potentially the most significant line in the song, for placing value sometimes situates people, places, and events in time and sometimes removes them from time into a timeless context. Interestingly, Bob feels that changes in a particular time period, the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, are visible in photographs, even though

“I don’t think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking there’s some kind of change. But after you’ve been around awhile, they both seem unnatural. It seems like we’re going in a straight line, but then you start seeing signs that you’ve seen before. Haven’t you experienced that? It seems we’re going around in circles.” (Bob Dolen, “A Midnight Chat with Bob Dylan,” September 29, 1995)

Although “All Along the Watchtower” is reminiscent of the 21^st chapter of Isaiah, its mystical, fearful, watchful atmosphere has always simultaneously evoked for me the cyclical transformations of “The Second Coming” by the great Irish poet-playwright, William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 –January 28, 1939).

"The Second Coming"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Not knowing “what any of it is worth” heralds things falling apart; “the centre cannot hold” because “the falcon cannot hear the falconer,” that is, we do not perceive necessary information and we have separated ourselves from God, from the divinity that pervades this grand universe. A revelation “is at hand,” “somewhere in sands of the desert a shape with lion body and the head of a man, a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,” while “in the distance a wildcat did growl.” For those whose vision pierces the veil of illusion, transcending the confusing and the ridiculous, “the hour is getting late.”

As for those two approaching riders: what accompanies them, what follows in their wake? According to Yeats’ ever-widening spiral of time, the second coming is horrifically apocalyptic, as “darkness drops again” while a “rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.”

In the 21^st chapter of Isaiah, the pair of horsemen bring good news, from the Israelite perspective, of the fall of Babylon. Nevertheless, that assessment darkens from the perspective of Babylon, fallen from its dizzying heights of grandeur, and thereby the abiding conflict in life is that the value of change is determined by the perspective.

Similarly, Bob’s recognition of human proclivity for “going around in circles” is expressed in the original ending of “All Along the Watchtower,” which may also be the beginning: two riders are approaching, and we assume that they are the joker and the thief who opened the song, which returns us to the beginning.

"There must be some way out of 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
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, we've 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.

On Tuesday, October 5, 2004, concertgoers at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul were gifted with a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime, electrifying treat at the Minnesota venue of the Vote for Change concerts. They were already revved by the incomparable Bruce Springsteen with his E Street Band.

And then unannounced special guest Neil Young glided onto the stage. With the first notes of Bob Dylan’s masterpiece, “All Along the Watchtower,” it was obvious that new depths were being plumbed. Neil’s confident, dynamic interpretation of this Dylan classic revealed once again that he is an absolute master of his craft and that he is not afraid to explore new dimensions and to expand boundaries. Neil’s inimitable style as he prowled rhythmically and gracefully around the stage, his vocals reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s raw, genuine style, blended naturally with Bruce’s intense yet low-key style. An already unique interpretation then attained the heights of perfection when Neil and Bruce, never missing a note or a strum, together approached Clarence Clemons (January 11, 1942-June 18, 2011), spotlighting the E Street Band’s saxophone powerhouse. Clarence’s solo nuanced the song’s mystique in a way that only flows from a complete understanding of the amazing range of connotation inherent in that grand instrument.

This absolutely riveting interpretation emphasizes the enduring appeal of Dylan’s chimerical masterpiece. Jimi had to have been there in spirit.

"There must be some way out of 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
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, we've 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 the servants came and went, barefoot women, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

Two riders were approaching

"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
Businessmen there - they drink my wine
Plow men dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth - Hey!"

"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 huh
But you and I we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour's getting late - Hey!"

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too, but
Outside in the cold distance
A wild cat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl - Hey!

The White Summer Band had all the right ingredients for a memorable interpretation of "All Along the Watchtower": a strong distinctive vocalist, a blind awesome guitarist who “tore up ‘All Along the Watchtower,’” a drummer who “loved making bodies move when I played the drums,” extraordinary keyboardist and bassist.

The live recording by The White Summer Band pays homage to Jimi Hendrix’s version and also anticipates Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young’s interpretation, while at the same time maintaining White Summer’s unique, valid, and exuberant integrity. It is not at all surprising to learn that not only Neil Young, but also Eric Clapton, made a point of stopping by to hear White Summer and bestowed compliments on them --- not at all meaningless compliments considering the stature that both Eric and Neil rightfully enjoy in the world of rock and roll and beyond.

The White Summer Band was founded in Michigan in 1973 by drummer-singer-songwriter James A. Watkins, who is now a writer extraordinaire on Hubpages. White Summer was a rock and roll band that toured and recorded for nearly 20 years. The band’s repertoire featured original material (which was recorded on five albums) as well as a repertoire of over 1000 classic rock songs. The band’s superlative guitarist, Jimmy Schrader, was brought on board after the first incarnation of White Summer disbanded, following the release of their first album in 1976.

Jimmy Schrader’s contributions to the band’s unique identity, especially as displayed in this recording, are incalculable --- an acknowledgment that in no way diminishes the significance of all other members, including the founder, James Watkins, who recognized Jimmy’s amazing gifts in his hub, “White Summer”:

“Jimmy was born blind and because of that, three things happened: He developed preternatural hearing; he was gifted by God with an incredible natural talent to play a guitar; and since he was unable to join in on many activities most of us did as youngsters, he practiced his guitar eight hours a day for many years.”

In 1980 White Summer switched its home base from Michigan to Florida.

The live recording of The White Summer Band’s version of Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” features James Watkins on drums, Jimmy Schrader on guitar, Steve Douglas (from Cincinnati, Ohio) as front man and vocalist, Danny Frye (from Boston via Cape Cod, Massachusetts) on keyboards, and Donnie Brown (from Los Angeles via Greenville, Mississippi) on bass.

Kick back and enjoy. This is rock n roll! As James Watkins observed in response to the steady crescendo of praise that is directed towards his band:

“My blind guitar player tore up ‘All Along the Watchtower’ didn't he?”

“I loved making bodies move when I played the drums.”

This hub is dedicated to the memory of Clarence Clemons (January 11, 1942-June 18, 2011), the E Street Band's saxophonist extraordinaire. I cannot even begin to imagine the jamming sessions which Clarence is now enjoying with Jimi Hendrix and the Next World Band!

I would like to express my especially great thanks to Michael Ackerman for his video interpretation of Bob Dylan’s original version of “All Along the Watchtower” on Vimeo .

I am also grateful to fellow hubber James A. Watkins for reminding me, specifically through his hub, “White Summer II,” of “All Along the Watchtower,” a song by Bob Dylan that is favored by me and that exhibits such incredible yet recognizable versatility whether in the hands of fame’s acknowledged masters (Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen-Clarence Clemons-Neil Young) or in the hands of lesser known but uniquely talented bands such as The White Summer Band.

I am immeasurably grateful to loveme2times for uploading "Bruce Springsteen & Neil Young - All Along the Watchtower" on YouTube.

I am also hugely grateful to roxanne77 for uploading "All Along the Watchtower - The Jimi Hendrix Experience" on YouTube.

Dolen, John, “A Midnight Chat with Bob Dylan,” Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, September 29, 1995.

Gray, Michael. The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (London: Continuum Books, 2006)

Copyright March 25, 2011 by Stessily