I only just got around to finishing off the third season of Battlestar Galactica, and I must admit that it took me a while to pin down the music from the final episode, Crossroads.
It was Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, which, like most people, I know best as a psychedelic Jimi Hendrix song.
The version in Crossroads is by Bear McCreary, the series’ composer:
The song and lyrics that Tory, Tigh, Tyrol and Anders hear is Bob Dylan‘s “All Along the Watchtower“, as adapted by veteran series composer Bear McCreary. The vocals for this version are performed by McCreary’s brother Brendan McCreary, aka Bt4, with former Oingo Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek playing various guitars and sitars. There is no explanation given in the show as to why this particular song is heard, nor where it comes from. According to a conversation McCreary had with Ronald D. Moore, the version heard in the episode is meant to have been recorded by a Colonial artist rather than by Bob Dylan himself.