American Songwriter highlights three songs released in 1968 that it argues are especially familiar to baby boomers: Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”, the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “All Along The Watchtower”, and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. The article presents them as generational classics whose memorable lyrics and cultural impact have kept them widely recognised.

“Born To Be Wild”, written by Mars Bonfire, drew on his sense of freedom after buying his first car and is sometimes described as an early heavy-metal song. Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” became the better-known interpretation and was praised by Dylan himself, while Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” as an encouraging message for Julian Lennon during John Lennon’s divorce.