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Song Stories

“The Wanderer”

Dion | 1961

Dion DiMucci, known professionally only by his first name, was given this song after Nino and the Ebbtides passed on it. But according to Dion, the tune, which is about a nomadic man who tattooed the names of his girlfriends on his arms, was a perfect fit for him. "You say to a chick, 'Stay away from that guy,'" he told Rolling Stone, "And she would say, 'What guy?' Chicks love a rebel."

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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