All Along the Watchtower

Dylan recorded the original in Nashville on 6 November 1967 for John Wesley Harding, released on 27 December 1967, with Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. Hendrix received a tape of unreleased Dylan songs, and the engineer Andy Johns said he first meant to record a different song. Hendrix began his recording on 21 January 1968 at Olympic. Redding left mid-session, and Dave Mason played 12-string guitar and for a time bass, but the final bass part was Hendrix himself. Brian Jones played percussion on a vibraslap. A first mix was made on 26 January, and Hendrix went on overdubbing in June to August at the Record Plant, where the tape moved from four tracks to sixteen.

Reprise issued it as a US single on 2 September 1968, where it reached number 20, his highest US single. The UK single followed on 18 October 1968 and reached number five. Dylan said in 1995 that Hendrix's version overwhelmed him, and he has played the song Hendrix's way since the first show of his 1974 tour with the Band. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.