All along the Watchtower

This song by Bob Dylan has been interpreted in a great number of different ways. It is a good illustration of both the strength and weakness of inter-semiotics. On the one hand, possible connections are seemingly endless. On the other hand, possible connections are seemingly endless. Whether that is a good/valid thing or a bad/invalid one depends on the person and the context. 

Here are just a few of the biblical references that have been suggested in the song lyrics:

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield./For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth./And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed./...And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. (Isa 21.5-9, KJV)

It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless.... (Ecc 1.2, GNT)

“And what is truth?” Pilate asked. (Jhn 18.38a, GNT)

One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. (Luk 23.39-40, GNT)

All along the Watchtower

Bob Dylan version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YanjY9CsPDQ

Jimi Hendrix version (Dylan liked it better than his own): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY

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"There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"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 you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

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