Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the Chitlin' Circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who in turn interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the U.S. after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the U.S.; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, before his accidental death from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.
Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in utilizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock, and was the first artist to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."
Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year, and in 1968, Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.
All Along The Watchtower [Liv
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men, they drink my wine
Plowman dig my earth
None were level on the mind
Hey, 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, uh, but you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us stop talkin' 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
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
The lyrics to Jimi Hendrix Experience's song, "All Along The Watchtower," are full of layers and meanings. The opening line, "There must be some kind of way outta here" sets the tone for a song that is about feeling trapped and unable to escape. The joker and the thief represent different parts of the same person – one who is foolish and the other who is deceptive, but both wanting a way out of confusing situations. The next line, "There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief" emphasizes that feeling of being overwhelmed and unable to find peace.
The following stanza is a commentary on social classes and how they interact with each other. The business men drink the joker's wine, and the plowman works the thief's land. Both classes are not level in their minds, but nobody is upholding their word. This emphasizes a sense of dishonesty and a lack of trust between different classes of people.
The third stanza emphasizes that many people see life as a joke, but the joker and the thief realize that their fate is not something to be taken lightly. They've been through difficult situations before, and they know that now is not the time for false words. The hour is getting late, and it's time to be serious.
The final stanza is the most enigmatic of all. It speaks of princes keeping the view from a watchtower while women come and go, and barefoot servants work in the background. In the distance, a wildcat growls, and two riders approach while the wind howls. This stanza is a metaphor for the unpredictability of life and the imminent approach of danger. The watchtower represents a position of power where one can observe everything that's happening around them, but it also symbolizes the inability to act.
Overall, "All Along The Watchtower" is a song that speaks to the human condition – the feeling of being trapped and overwhelmed, the impossibility of trust between different classes of people, and the unpredictability of life.
Lyrics © BOB DYLAN MUSIC CO
Written by: BOB DYLAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@balakay5092
Hendrix never died. Earth was just part of his tour.
@BoKnowsBrains
watch the watch towers
@fpa417
dont know about anyone else but putting LMAO after a joke ruins it for me. LMAO
@hi-wm7tb
@@fpa417 being a jojo fan ruins any chance at being funny
@kevinheatcoat2190
Coronavirus.
@awhahoo
@@fpa417 I laughed at the joke don't worry about crusty toe he became steelydan 2.0
@samcavanagh7993
If you're ever feeling down remember we live in an age where this song is accessible in a second, for free, forever.
@drkadzijaliburic1093
@@MARSBELLA1 vpn
@Fordham1969
That type of thing is always a double edged sword though. Yes, on balance I agree it's preferable to live in an age where these sort of things that you love can be enjoyed instantly wherever you are. However, there's something about having to wait for things that enhances your appreciation of them. There's no perfection in life.
@JARC1010
@@MARSBELLA1 Considering the government has decided to keep the copyright laws and most labour laws and generally all the other laws exactly the same to avoid confusion, i think you need to take the tin foil hat off.