10 Hard Rock Cover Songs That Are Better Than The Original
1. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
It's always a challenge when taking on songs by a legend. Take Bob Dylan, for example. This man has written some of the most biting lyrics and powerful songs in the rock canon, so you better be sure that if you cover it that it's done correctly to do the original artist proud. On the other hand, when you hand off a song by a musical legend to be covered by another musical legend, you get something that the world has never seen before.
Always on the lookout for great songs, Jimi Hendrix became particularly enamored with Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Looking for more material for his double album Electric Ladyland, Hendrix and the Experience made their own rendition of the folk tune, with some of the greatest guitar playing ever performed by human hands. As the guitar washes over you, this traditional folk tale about the joker and the thief is elevated to almost messianic proportions, as Hendrix seems to be in full communion with his instrument.
Even when asked about it years later, Dylan has fully admitted that Hendrix's version of the song is the definitive take on how the song should be played. While Hendrix wasn't a perfect man throughout his time on this Earth, this is just further proof than anything he touched on his guitar turned into solid gold.