Jimi Hendrix fiery interpretation of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, from Hendrix’s classic Electric Ladyland struck a deep and resonant chord on its release in September 1968. According to Dylan, Hendrix “could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them” and with all along the watchtower he found something which spoke to the frustrations and confusion surrounding US involvement in the Vietnam War in both the pro and anti war camps. While Bob Dylan’s version failed to chart All Along the Watchtower was Hendrix’s highest charting song reaching number 20 on the Billboard chart. Alongside the Stones’ Gimme Shelter Hendrix’s version of All Along the Watchtower has become symbolic with the Vietnam War appearing across a wide range of films from Forest Gump to Watchmen.
The track is also featured in Hangar 13’s Mafia III which follows African American Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay on a quest for revenge after the racially charged double-cross and murder of his family by local Mafiosos. The game takes place in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Clay’s story sees him rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld dealing as he goes with overt and systematic racism on both sides of the law in New Bordeaux: a fictionalized version of 1968 New Orleans. Mafia III deals with these themes to often shocking effect. The sense of immediacy and emergency injected into All Along the Watchtower by Mitch Mitchell’s strong and precise drumming and Hendrix’s emotive guitar work seemed to suggest that the degeneration of the social fabric explored in the lyric was coming to a head in 1968. This same sense of impending social implosion runs throughout the game and drives Clay’s story and sadly these themes have become relevant again 50 years later…
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