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 and released the following year on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and as the B-side of the single "Blowin' in the Wind". The song has been covered by several other artists, including Waylon Jennings in 1964, Susan Tedeschi, Melanie Safka, Gerard Quintana and Jordi Batiste in Catalan, Emilie-Claire Barlow in her 2010 album The Beat Goes On and Peter, Paul and Mary, who released it as a single, which reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
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 beginning of the melody is based on the public domain traditional song "Who's Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I'm Gone", which 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 beginning of the melody, a couple of lines of lyrics 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.
In addition to 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; recorded February 14, 1974), as a reggae rock version on Bob Dylan at Budokan (1978; recorded February 28, 1978), The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall (2004; recorded October 31, 1964), Live at The Gaslight 1962 (2005; recorded October 15, 1962), and Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections (2018; recorded April 12, 1963).
In 1963, the popular folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary recorded the song. Dylan's manager Albert Grossman also managed Peter, Paul and Mary and started offering Dylan's songs to other artists to record. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" was one of three Dylan songs Peter, Paul and Mary picked up that way for their third album In the Wind, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Quit Your Lowdown Ways" being the others. Released as a single, it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on its Easy Listening charts. It was this version that popularized the song. Cash Box described it as "an infectious medium-paced country-styled folk item with a haunting, extremely pretty melody" that seemed destined to replicate the success the trio had with "Blowin' in the Wind". AllMusic critic William Ruhlman described the Peter, Paul and Mary version as an "understated rendition" of the song. Radio personality Bob Leszczak describes this version as being done "in typical fashion".
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 number 12 on the Hot 100, and eventually sold one million copies.
In 1968, Burl Ives covered the song on his album The Times They Are a-Changin'. Billy Strings has also done an acoustic cover.
Several country music artists have also covered this song. In 1965, Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song on his Orange Blossom Special album. In 1970, Waylon Jennings released his Don't Think Twice album with this song as the first track on the album. Elvis Presley recorded the song as an in-studio jam with his band in Nashville in May 1971, and a shortened version first appeared on his self-titled 1973 album. The full version remained unreleased until the 1995 release of the box set Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters. In 1971, Jerry Reed released an up-tempo version on his album, When You're Hot, You're Hot. In 1978, Doc & Merle Watson covered this song on their album Look Away! Dolly Parton covered this song on her 44th studio album Blue Smoke in 2014 and has since been a popular bluegrass song during her concerts. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered this song in their sixth and final recorded collaboration Django and Jimmie in 2016. In 1965 Australian folk/pop outfit The Seekers also recorded a version of "Don't Think Twice" and released it on their album A World Of Our Own.
Before he became famous, Post Malone uploaded a cover version to YouTube in 2013 under his birth name, performed in an earnest folk style unlike his later work. The video was widely viewed in 2015 after his "White Iverson" video went viral on SoundCloud. Lana Del Rey performed the song on her Norman Fucking Rockwell! tour in 2019, joined by Walkmen singer Hamilton Leithauser in Nashville, Tennessee.
The song was used on the television series Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, and Men of a Certain Age. It was used in Nancy Savoca's 1991 film Dogfight, starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor; the 2011 film The Help; the October 30, 2016 episode of the AMC television series The Walking Dead; the January 22, 2019 episode of the NBC television series This Is Us (season 3) (episode 11, "Songbird Road Part 1"); the 2019 film The Kitchen (during a funeral scene, the cover version is sung by the artist Melanie); the January 7, 2020 episode of the series Emergence (season 1, episode 10, "15 Years"); and the February 16, 2021 episode of the NBC television series This Is Us (season 5) (episode 8, "In The Room"), which featured a cover version sung by John Martyn. It was also featured in the BBC Scottish sitcom series, Still Game in the final episode, "Over the Hill" which was played in the final scenes of the show. The song is also heard over the end scenes of the December 16, 2021 episode of the HBO MAX miniseries Station Eleven (season 1, episode 1, "Wheel of Fire"). A cover version by Peter, Paul & Mary played over the end credits of the April 5, 2023 episode of the AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso (season 3, episode 4, "Big Week".). A Burl Ives' cover was used in the final episode ("The Hook") of season one of Poker Face.