Jimi Hendrix Said Bob Dylan Didn’t Inspire Him as a Musician for a Self-Deprecating Reason
Jimi Hendrix famously covered Bob Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower” and spoke openly about how much he admired the other musician. Despite this, Hendrix said he didn’t take any inspiration from Dylan’s music. He explained why he felt this way despite holding Dylan in such high regard.
Jimi Hendrix covered a Bob Dylan song
In 1968, Hendrix began to record a cover of Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower.” He had previously covered “Like a Rolling Stone,” but “All Along the Watchtower” would become his most well-known Dylan cover. Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, provided other artists with Dylan tapes to encourage them to cover the songs.
Dylan liked the cover so much that he amended his version of the song to sound more like Hendrix’s. He explained that after Hendrix’s death, the song felt like a tribute to him.
“Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way,” Dylan said, per Ultimate Classic Rock. “I liked Hendrix’s record, and ever since he died, I’ve been doing it that way.”
Jimi Hendrix admired Bob Dylan but didn’t feel inspired by him
When discussing Dylan, Hendrix wasn’t afraid to talk about how much he admired the other artist.
“I saw him one time, but both of us were stoned out of our minds,” he told radio DJ Steve Barker in 1967 (via Louder Than War). “I remember it vaguely. 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. People have always got to put him down. I really dig him, though. I like that Highway 61 Revisited album and especially ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’!”
He said that while he enjoyed Dylan’s music, he didn’t take inspiration from it.
“He doesn’t inspire me actually, because I could never write the kind of words he does,” he explained. “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.”
It sounds like Hendrix was undercutting his own talent here, though. If Dylan’s lyrics guided him through songwriting, he was likely more of an inspiration than Hendrix thought.
A collaboration between the two artists would have been fascinating
Hendrix and Dylan reportedly only met once, but the guitarist said he would have loved to collaborate with the other artist.
“I’d like to play some sessions behind Dylan,” Hendrix said. “His group ought to be a little more creative.”
They unfortunately never had the chance to work together, but a collaboration between Hendrix and Dylan could have resulted in some groundbreaking music. By 1967, when Hendrix made this remark, Dylan had already gone electric. He heard The Byrds cover his music with electric instruments and decided to do the same.
Dylan proved that he was open to pushing his creative boundaries. If Hendrix had inspired him creatively, the pair could have made strong music together.
