Song 748: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. About a year and a half after I had the experience of hearing the Jimi Hendrix version of this tune, which I featured last week, I had the unexpected privilege of getting to hear the songwriter's original recording of it. My folks dropped me off in the parking lot of Bobb Hall at Northwestern University in early September of 1969, and when I got up to the floor of my dorm room, I met another student who had a room close to mine, and he invited me to come in and hang out with him, which I did. His name was actually Smiley, and he soon put his John Wesley Harding LP on his turntable, so then I got to hear Mr. BD's voice for the first time. My initial reaction to hearing Bob was to think that his rough singing sound explained why he had greater fame as a songwriter than a performer. Living in that dormitory, though, it didn't take long to get to hear a lot more of Mr. Dylan's recordings, and my appreciation of his talent quickly moved past any critique of his vocal tones. Before long, I also concluded that even when there's too much confusion in my area, personally, I COULD get some relief.
