Why Bob Dylan didn’t inspire Jimi Hendrix: “I could never write the kind of words he does”
When Jimi Hendrix covered Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’, he propelled the track to new heights. It went from being a poetic yearning of Dylan’s into one of the most significant rocking moments of the 1960s. In fact, Dylan sometimes felt that he was playing the song as a tribute to Hendrix when he performed it live in the years after the guitarist’s death.
The truth is that Dylan and Hendrix are two of the primary names when one thinks of American music in the 1960s. Although they came at an artistic angle from different sides, the two iconic musicians laid much of the groundwork that gave the 1960s the nostalgic impetus that it has today.
During an interview in 1967, Hendrix was asked about the singer Donovan, and in the same breath, noted the fact that he preferred Dylan. “He’s a nice little cat in his own groove, all about flowers and people wearing golden underwear,” Hendrix said. “I like Donovan as a person, but nobody is going to listen to this ‘love’ bit. I like Dylan’s music better because it’s more earthy and live.”
Hendrix then said that he would love to play in Dylan’s band, claiming that they could use someone with his creativity. “I’d like to play some sessions behind Dylan,” he said. “His group ought to be a little more creative.” What a fascinating potential for Hendrix to be riffing into a solo behind Dylan, even if it would have been at odds with Dylan’s whole thing.
The legendary guitarist also recalled the time he met Dylan in New York City. “I saw him one time, but both of us were stoned out of our minds. I remember it vaguely,” he said. “It was at this place called The Kettle of Fish in the Village. We were both stoned there, and we just hung around laughing. Yeah, we just laughed.”
It’s great to hear Hendrix talk of his contemporary in this light, the two of them stoned. Hendrix also admitted that critics seemed to like to put a bit of a downer on Dylan, although this didn’t stop Hendrix from loving the music. “People have always got to put him down,” he said. “I really dig him, though. I like that Highway 61 Revisited album and especially ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues!'”
Interestingly, Hendrix didn’t feel inspired by Dylan, even despite his admiration for him. “He doesn’t inspire me actually because I could never write the kind of words he does,” Hendrix added. “But he’s helped me out in trying to write about two or three words ’cause I got a thousand songs that will never be finished. I just lie around and write about two or three words, but now I have a little more confidence in trying to finish one.”
Of Dylan’s writing technique, Hendrix noted, “When I was down in the Village, Dylan was starving down there. I hear he used to have a pad with him all the time to put down what he sees around him. But he doesn’t have to be stoned when he writes, although he probably is a cat like that, he just doesn’t have to be.”
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