During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones. The band traveled to Philadelphia to audition for Dick Clark's "American Bandstand", but were turned down. Members of the band found Dick Clark's house and were able to get a recommendation to audition at New York City's Baton Records through the company's lead producer Sol Rabinowitz. The band was given a recording contract, but the studio wanted a quintet backed by studio musicians, which left Crosby and another member out of their recordings.
After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but his thirst for adventure led him to go AWOL and roam the country busking for a living in areas like New Orleans, Texas, Florida, and New York. He played mostly ukulele until Harriet Ottenheimer, one of the founders of The Quorum, got him settled on a guitar in 1963. He adopted his stage name "Jerry Jeff Walker" in 1966. He spent his early folk music days in Greenwich Village in the mid 1960s. He co-founded a band with Bob Bruno in the late 1960s called Circus Maximus that put out two albums one with the popular west coast hit "Wind", but Bruno's interest in jazz apparently diverged from Walker's interest in folk music. Walker thus resumed his solo career and recorded the seminal album "Mr. Bojangles" with the help of David Bromberg and other influential Atlantic recording artists. He settled in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s associating mainly with the country-rock outlaw scene that included artists such as Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings, and Townes Van Zandt.
"Mr. Bojangles" (written by Walker) is perhaps his most well-known and most-often covered song. It was about an obscure alcoholic but talented tap-dancing drifter, (not the famous stage and movie dancer Bill Robinson, as usually assumed). Bojangles is thought to have been a folk character who entertained informally in the south of the US and California, and some say he might have been one of the most gifted natural dancers ever. Authentic reports of him exist from the 1920s through about 1965. Artists from Nina Simone to Bob Dylan, Philip Glass to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, have covered the song. Walker has also recorded songs written by others such as "LA Freeway" (Guy Clark), and "Up Against the Wall Red Neck Mother" (Ray Wylie Hubbard).
A string of records for MCA and Elektra followed Jerry Jeff's move to Austin, before he gave up on the mainstream music business and formed his own independent record label. Tried & True Music was founded in 1986, with his wife Susan as President and manager. Susan also founded Goodknight Music as his management company and Tried & True Artists for his bookings. A series of increasingly autobiographical records followed under the Tried & True imprint. Tried & True also sells his autobiography called "Gypsy Songman". In 2004, Jerry Jeff released his first DVD of songs from his past as performed in an intimate setting in Austin, TX.
He interpreted the songs of others like Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Keith Sykes, Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan, Todd Snider and even a rodeo clown named Billy Jim Baker.
His son, Django Walker, is also a musician. In addition to his residence in Austin, Walker had a retreat on Ambergris Caye in Belize where he recorded his "Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits" album in 1998.
Members of his band varied over the years. The Lost Gonzo Band and the Gonzo Compadres have backed him in the past. Key members of his band included Craig Hillis - guitarist and arranger on Viva Terlingua, John Inmon, Freddy Krc, Gary P. Nunn, Bob Livingston, Bobby Rambo, Mitch Watkins, Steve Samuel, David Bromberg and others.
Don't Think Twice It's Alright
Jerry Jeff Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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
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
Jerry Jeff Walker's version of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a melancholic and introspective track about a failed relationship. The lyrics suggest that there's no point in trying to understand what caused the breakup, and that it's time to move on. The first stanza tells us that there's no use in pondering over why the relationship ended, and even if we did, it wouldn't make a difference. The second stanza talks about how being in the dark symbolizes the unknown future that lies ahead. The singer wishes that their partner would try to do something to convince him to stay, but he knows that it's useless. There's no use in holding on to something that isn't meant to be.
The third stanza is an admission that the relationship failed because the woman was not supportive or understanding of Jerry Jeff Walker. In fact, she only wanted the best for herself and not for him. The last stanza reveals that the singer is walking away from the relationship and doesn't know where he's heading, but he knows that he can't stay in a relationship that is not fulfilling. The song's tone is hauntingly beautiful and provoking.
Line by Line Meaning
It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It's pointless to contemplate why things happened
It don't matter, anyhow
In the end, it doesn't matter
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
Reinforcing the point that there is no use in wondering
If you don't know by now
If you don't already understand
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
When the day starts anew
Look out your window and I'll be gone
I won't be around anymore
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
The relationship with the person is what's driving me away
Don't think twice, it's all right
Just accept it and move on
It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
Lighting the way won't change my departure
That light I never knowed
I never experienced that kind of light
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
Reiterating the futility of turning on the light
I'm on the dark side of the road
I'm in a dark place
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
Even though I'm leaving, I still desire closure
To try and make me change my mind and stay
In hopes of making me have a change of heart
We never did too much talkin' anyway
Our communication was lacking anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right
It's not worth stressing over
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
No need to call out to me
Like you never did before
As if it would make a difference
I can't hear you any more
I've moved on and left it behind
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
Reflecting on what's already happened
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
A past relationship that has ended
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
I gave everything I had but it wasn't enough
But don't think twice, it's all right
It was what it was, nothing to worry about now
I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
Walking down a lonely path
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
I don't know where I'm headed
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
Saying goodbye isn't appropriate
So I'll just say fare thee well
A subtler way of saying goodbye
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
I'm not blaming you
You could have done better but I don't mind
It could have been better but it's okay
You just kinda wasted my precious time
It wasn't completely productive
But don't think twice, it's all right
Just move on and don't worry about it
Contributed by Ava V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.