[Verse 1: Bob Dylan]
Well it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If’n you don’t know by now
And it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It’ll never do somehow
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I’ll be gone
You’re the reason I’m a-traveling on
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
[Verse 2: Bob Dylan]
And it ain’t no use in turning on your light, babe
The light I never knowed
And it ain’t no use in turning on your light, babe
I’m on the dark side of the road
But I wish there was something you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
But we never did too much talking anyway
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
[Verse 3: Bob Dylan]
So it ain’t no use in calling out my name, gal
Like you never done before
And it ain’t no use in calling out my name, gal
I can’t hear you anymore
I’m a-thinking and a-wondering, walking down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I’m told
I gave her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
[Verse 4: Bob Dylan]
So long, honey babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
Goodbye’s too good a word, babe
So I’ll just say fare thee well
I ain’t a-saying you treated me unkind
You could of done better but I don’t mind
You just kind of wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and as a single.
Context
In the liner notes to the original release, Nat Hentoff calls the song “a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better … as if you were talking to yourself.” It was written around the time that Suze Rotolo indefinitely prolonged her stay in Italy. The melody is based on the public domain traditional song “Who’s Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I’m Gone”[1][2] and was taught to Dylan by folksinger Paul Clayton, who had used it in his song “Who’s Gonna Buy You Ribbons When I’m Gone?”
As well as the melody, a couple of lines were taken from Clayton’s “Who’s Gonna 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.
It has been argued that the guitar on the original version of the song, which features a fast fingerstyle, was played by Bruce Langhorne.[3] In live performances, Dylan often strummed the chords, or flatpicked, but in a similar, fast-paced manner. Moreover, the 1963 “Witmark demos” version of the song has Bob Dylan finger-picking, in a very similar manner to the original 1962 recording. Furthermore, a recording of an April 1963 concert in New York City[4] contains a live version of “Don’t Think Twice”, finger-picked in a manner similar to that heard on the original recording.
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,[9] and eventually sold one million copies.
