All Along the Watchtower
All Along the Watchtower
by Bob Dylan

All Along the Watchtower Themes

Little Words, Big Ideas

Friendship

There's no way to be sure if the joker and the thief are actually pals. Maybe they were assigned to work together as messengers, and they really hate each other. But we don't think so. They are bot...

Isolation

The joker and the thief are isolated, both literally and metaphorically. Literally because they seem to be traveling alone between cities in a Western or Biblical landscape with the wind and the wi...

Warfare

There are no battles or warriors in this poem, but the atmosphere and some of the symbols suggest that war is in the air. The Bible passage from the Book of Isaiah that inspired this song talks abo...

Dissatisfaction

Ever heard the expression, "tears of a clown"? People use it to describe someone who wants people to think he or she is really fun and happy, when in fact they're down in the dumps. The joker seems...