Track 54: "All Along the Watchtower" Dave Matthews Band covering Bob Dylan

But you and I have been through that, and this is not our fate/so let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late

Capping off a run of Bob Dylan covers, it would be an egregious error of any pretentious blogger not to include "All Along the Watchtower" on an Ultimate Playlist.

And though I have no scientific evidence to support this claim, I think it's safe to say that "All Along the Watchtower" is easily the most covered song in music. Ever. The list of bands that have covered this tune include include Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, U2, Neil Young, Taj Mahal, the Indigo Girls, Richie Havens and my favorite band from my high school years the late Sourwood Honey. (I'm sure that list barely scratches the surface).

Sure, Hendrix's version trumps them all, but I have to give a nod to the way the Dave Matthews Band interprets this song. (And yes, I do like DMB in small doses). "All Along the Watchtower" is pretty much a guaranteed staple at any DMB show (I know I've seen it performed every time in the handful of shows I've seen). And though I think it's a little lame to perform the same song for every encore, the band absolutely kills this tune.

I first saw DMB at the gymnasium at The Citadel in Charleston, SC during my high school spring break in 1995 (one of the best vacations I've ever had) and of course the band encored with "All Along the Watchtower." That summer, maybe three months later, the band did its first amphitheater tour. You Tube displays 534 results when I searched for DMB doing "All Along the Watchtower," but I only had one version in my mind--the best I've ever heard this band do. This version appears of 1994 "Recently" EP." Released before the group was one of the biggest bands in the world, this version is awesome. You can tell it was recorded in a small club, when the DMB was a young, hungry band--a decade before they were rich enough to just casually dump their tour bus sewage tank on unsuspecting tourists in Chicago. http://tinyurl.com/38hq7of