Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
Song by Bob Dylan from the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Released	May 27, 1963
Recorded	November 14, 1962
Genre	Folk, country
Length	3:40
Label	Columbia
Writer	Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan track listing
"Blowin' in the Wind" "Girl from the North Country" "Masters of War" "Down the Highway" "Bob Dylan's Blues" "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" "Bob Dylan's Dream" "Oxford Town" "Talkin' World War III Blues" "Corrina, Corrina" "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" "I Shall Be Free"

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Context

Besides its original release, the song has appeared on several of Dylan's greatest hits compilations, including Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II (1971), The Best of Bob Dylan (1997) and The Essential Bob Dylan (2000). Another version of the song, recorded as a demo for Dylan's music publisher M. Witmark & Sons in 1963, was included on two releases in Columbia's Bootleg Series: Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (2005) and Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 (2010). In addition, live versions have been released on Before the Flood (1974), Bob Dylan at Budokan (1978), The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall (2004) and Live at the Gaslight 1962 (2005).

Dylan once introduced "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as "a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better... as if you were talking to yourself." The song, written around the time that Suze Rotolo indefinitely prolonged her stay in Italy, is based on a melody taught to Dylan by folksinger Paul Clayton.

As well as the melody, a couple of lines were taken from Clayton's "Who's Goin' to Buy You Ribbons When I'm Gone?" which was recorded in 1960, two years before Dylan wrote "Don't Think Twice." Lines taken word-for-word or slightly altered from the Clayton song are, "T'ain't no use to sit and wonder why, darlin'," and, "So I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road." On the first release of the song, instead of "So I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road babe, where I'm bound, I can't tell" Dylan sings "So long, honey babe, where I'm bound, I can't tell". The lyrics were changed when Dylan performed live versions of the song and on cover versions recorded by other artists. Both Clayton's song and Dylan's song were based on the public domain traditional song "Who's Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I'm Gone". ^[1]

The original album version of the song is played in a fast, fingerstyle manner by, some speculate, Bruce Langhorne.^[2] However, Eyolf Østrem, the creator of the website dylanchords, argues it was Bob Dylan himself who played the guitar track.^[3] In live performances, Dylan often strummed the chords, or flatpicks, albeit in a similar, fast-paced manner.

The song was used on the television series Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, and Men of a Certain Age.^[4][5]

Cover versions

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" has been covered by Peter, Paul and Mary (1963),^[6] Bobby Darin, Arnaldo Baptista, Cher, Johnny Cash, Jackie DeShannon, Davey Graham, Odetta, Rory Gallagher, Stone the Crows, Heinz, Elvis Presley, Burl Ives, Waylon Jennings, Flatt and Scruggs, Steve Young, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Jerry Reed, Joan Baez (who, in addition to covering it herself, also recorded it as a trio with the Indigo Girls), Doc Watson, The Waifs, Vonda Shepard, John Martyn, Metric, Elliott Smith, Billy Bragg, Nick Drake, Sandi Thom, Susan Tedeschi, Emily Haines, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Boris Grebenshchikov, Jackie Greene, Bryan Ferry, Wolfgang Ambros, Arlo Guthrie, Tristan Prettyman, Bree Sharp, Gavin Castleton, Folk By Association, The Folkswingers, O.A.R. with Matt Nathanson and Mike Ness, Social Distortion, Donavon Frankenreiter, Billy Paul, guitarist Lenny Breau, Ryan Montbleau, John Mayer, The Allman Brothers Band, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Cock Robin, and Barbara Dickson. The Peter, Paul and Mary cover was the definitive single, reaching #9 pop Billboard Hot 100, #2 easy listening on Billboard's charts.^[6]

Johnny Cash adapted portions of the song into his own single "Understand Your Man".^[7]

The Four Seasons released a cover of the song as a single in 1965 (with the title "Don't Think Twice") under the pseudonym The Wonder Who? Their "joke" version reached the #12 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and eventually sold one million copies.

Fashawn's "Samsonite Man" features a heavy sampling of Billy Paul's version.

Electro-pop singer Kesha has also done a cover of the song.

References

1. ^ Bob Spitz, Dylan: A Biography, London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1991, p. 200.
2. ^ "The freewheelin' Bruce Langhorne: A musician and master chef". London: The Independent. 2007-04-01. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-freewheelin-bruce-langhorne-a-musician-and-master-chef-442225.html. Retrieved 2008-11-13. 
3. ^ "Chapter 12: It Wasn’t Bruce - A Musical Whodunnit (Don’t Think Twice (1962)". dylanchords.info. 2011-05-20. http://dylanchords.info/professors/tt/ttch13.html. Retrieved 2011-05-20. 
4. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (2008-07-25). "Back to the Office, Vices in Tow". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/arts/television/25mad.html. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
5. ^ "TMQ's "Twelve Days of Christmas"". ESPN. 2009-12-22. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/091222&sportCat=nfl. Retrieved 2010-01-14. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "allmusic: Peter, Paul and Mary > Charts & Awards > Billboard singles", Billboard.com, 2006, web: Allmusic-51.
7. ^ Turner, Steve (2005). The man called Cash: the life, love, and faith of an American legend. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 0849908159. http://books.google.com/books?id=6qaANnvGwGkC&pg=PT211&dq=%22understand+your+man%22+%22don%27t+think+twice%22&hl=en&ei=tTbPTafHCoy2twfb38CFDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22understand%20your%20man%22%20%22don%27t%20think%20twice%22&f=false.