DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT

(Bob Dylan - 1963)

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don't matter, anyhow
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don't know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I'll be gone
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
Don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin' anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right

I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
So I'll just say fare thee well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Dylan treats Don't Think Twice, It's All Right differently from most city singers.  "A lot of people," he says, "make it sort of a love song slow and easy-going.  But it isn't a love song.  It's a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better.  It's as if you were talking to yourself.  It's a hard song to sing.  I can sing it sometimes, but I ain't that good yet.  I don't carry myself yet the way that Big Joe Williams, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Lightnin' Hopkins have carried themselves.  I hope to be able to someday, but they're older people.  I sometimes am able to do it, but it happens, when it happens, unconsciously.  You see, in time, with those older singers, music was a tool - a way to live more, a way to make themselves feel better at certain points.  As for me, I can make myself feel better some times, but at other times, it's still hard to go to sleep at night."

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