All Along the Watchtower - All Hell for a Basement

Here come the "All"s.

All Along The Watchtower.
Bob Dylan. From 1967's "John Wesley Harding".
There is a lot that can, and has been said about this song. Perhaps the Jimi Hendrix Experience cover is more famous now, but I like the Dylan original better. I am not a huge Dylan fan (I suspect this is the only type of Dylan fan), but I really enjoy this song. The reason for this may be due to the fact that "All Along the Watchtower" is about as accessible as Dylan gets. It is a "normal" length for a rock song, and the images conjured up are not as esoteric. That being said, the lyrics are beautiful and can be interpreted in many different ways.
"All Along the Watchtower" was the most prominent song on Dylan's "return to acoustic" album "John Wesley Harding", an album which eventually went to No. 2 on the album charts in the states, and number one in Britain. At the time of its writing, Dylan was recovering from a serious motorcycle accident, and began to read the Bible frequently. The influence of this reading is evident on many songs on the album, and can maybe be seen in "All Along the Watchtower". Certainly the song sounds mystic and apocalyptic. This is partially due to its odd lyrical structure, in that it seems like the last verse should be the first. But perhaps the most striking aspect of the lyrics is the "timelessness" of the narrative. Dylan's story could be set in any period of time, due to his use of archetype characters such as "the joker", "the thief", "princes". What that story means is wide open to interpretation.
What I enjoy most about this song is that it can be enjoyed as a simple pleasure for the seemingly simple story it tells and its pared down background music. Or conversely it can be enjoyed in depth as an intriguing message from a powerful artist.

Credit for first listen: Had known the Jimi Hendrix song since time immemorial, which is probably when I was around 12 years old. I heard the Dylan version while listening to my brother's folder of music on our old computer.
What this song is probably not about: Movement "along" a watchtower, which doesn't make a lot of sense, as a watchtower isn't really something you can move along, maybe within, or on top of, but its not a wall.
What this song is probably about: Dylan's own realization about society and his role in it. For this interpretation, the role of "the Joker" will be played by Bob Dylan, with the thief as a follow outsider of society who sympathizes with the Joker's "confusion" over "worth". "Princes", "women" and "servants" represent the rest of society.
Essential lyric: "None of them along the line know what any of it is worth"
Arbitrary rating: 79 out of 100.

All Falls Down.
Kanye West. From 2004's "The College Dropout"
Recordings for West's debut album had been going on since 1999, and when the album finally came out 5 years, it almost singlehandedly made hip-hop relevant again by repopularizing "alternative hip-hop" in the face of hardcore, gangster and party rap. "All Falls Down" did a lot towards that end. Perhaps West's greatest contribution was the dismantling of the "gangster" mythos which had been prevalent in hip-hop since the deaths of B.I.G. and Tupac. "All Falls Down" did the most towards exposing the self-consciousness and materialism what Kanye saw in both the black and hip-hop communities. The song uses lyrics from Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Iniquity", sung by Syleena Johnson. "All Falls Down" was West's biggest single to date, and crossed him over into mainstream success. The success of this song would ultimately set the stage for West's massive "Jesus Walks". The success of West and the album can be seen in the various accolades it received: Time magazine named it as one of the best 100 albums of all time.

Credit for first listen: The radio.
What this song is probably not about: The levees collapsing in New Orleans.
What this song is probably about: The dominance of image, and the disconnect between image and reality.
Essential lyric: "I got a problem with spending before I get it/We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it"
Arbitrary rating: 67 out of 100

All Good Things Come to an End (Unreleased Version)
Nelly Furtado ft. Chris Martin. Not released, but sort of from 2006's "Loose".
Co-written by Furtado, Martin and Timbaland, "All Good Things" was released as a single in 2006. Martin was originally to be featured prominently in the song, but in the final released version he was only featured harmonizing the chorus. This was a tragedy, because the "official" version is an entirely forgettable song, though it does stand out compared to most Nelly Furtado songs. The original, unreleased version however is very good.
Of the funny stories related to this song and the controversy over whether to release it or not, two stand out for me. The first of which is that Chris(t) Martin was initially intimidated by Timbaland because the producer kept referring to him as "Coldplay". Martin was unsure apparently whether Timbaland knew he wasn't Coldplay, or whether he was trying to make him uncomfortable. Apparently they got over this initial awkwardness, because at the beginning of this version Martin can be heard cheekily asking Timbaland to give him "a sick beat", who agrees.
The next story concerns why the song wasn't released. Apparently Martin's label's executives didn't want a song released were the singer sounded "rocky". This is ironic because his voice on this track sounds exactly the same as it did on all of Coldplay's previous recordings. ALSO, its ironic because Coldplay's next album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All of His Friends" took a decided turn towards the "rocky", and awesome.
Anyway, to sum it up, if you only ever listen to one Nelly Furtado song again, you've made the right choice. Also, it should be this one. Even if it is all a little melancholy.

Credit for first listen: Don't remember the exact circumstance, but I read about a Timbaland/Martin collaboration and looked it up. Was originally disappointed til I found the unreleased version.
What this song is probably not about: Furtado's selling out, and deciding to make terrible music.
What this song is probably about: Melancholy, depression, nothingness. I am guessssssing its about losing love.
Essential lyric: "Pain sets in and I don't cry/I only feel gravity and wonder why"
Arbitrary rating: 68 out of 100

All Hell for a Basement
Big Sugar. From 2001's "Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready?"
Big Sugar is a Canadian blues-rock band who achieved relative success in the '90s and were well-regarded as a live band. Like many Canadian bands, in particular The Tragically Hip and Barenaked Ladies they were unable to cross over to the US or any other markets, often seen as "too Canadian". Which is too bad, for the bands and for the other countries of the world, but doesn't bother me too much. The band broke up in 2004, and the song "All Hell for a Basement" was actually a big reason for the break up.
The songs name refers to Medicine Hat, Alberta, a place which Rudyard Kipling famously described as having "all Hell for a basement", due to the city sitting atop a vast natural gas reserve. The juxtaposition of "Heaven in Alberta" and "Hell for a basement" in the lyrics captures the feeling towards Alberta's oil industry's booms and busts. The fact that at many times since the 1970s Alberta has had more jobs than people as resulted in it being seen as Heaven to Canadians living elsewhere, where unemployment is high. This song deals with the redemptive qualities of this Heaven, and what one has to give up in order to reach it.
Having experienced my own heavenly experience in Alberta, Banff in particular, this song has always resonated with me. I remember once being told it wasn't "about" anything, but I disagree and believe the lyrics are quite poignant. Not to mention the drum and guitar work on this song just rocks, and I'd probably listen to it even if it were an instrumental.
As for the band's break-up, it was reportedly as a result of frontman Gordie Johnson's frustration with radio programmers who said the song was "too Canadian". Johnson is apparently a staunch nationalist, and didn't understand why that was a negative thing. I don't either.

Credit for first listen: Someone had Big Sugar's greatest hits album at a cottage one year, heard this song and listened to it incessantly from then on.
What this song is probably not about: Sinners in Alberta.
What this song is probably about: East coasters packing up and looking for work in Alberta, particularly the oil fields.
Essential lyric: "I'm a workin' man/But I ain't worked for a while"
Arbitrary rating: 73 out of 100