Originally from New York, Elliott grew up in a Jewish family and had always wanted to be a cowboy. Pressured by his parents to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, Elliott resisted and inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined the J.E. Ranch Rodeo. Although he was only with the rodeo for three months (before his parents tracked him down and he was sent home), Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, a rodeo clown who played guitar and banjo and sang songs.
Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student.
With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made three folk albums for the British label, Topic. Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, west end night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become well-known within the folk scene.
Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.
Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.
Elliott appeared on Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and played Longheno de Castro in Dylan's Renaldo and Clara.
Jack Elliott's style is distinctive in its use of excellent guitar technique matched with laconic, humorous storytelling and an emotional intensity in the singing.
Elliott's nickname is due not to his travel habits, but rather to the countless stories he would relate before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claims that it was her mother who gave him the name by remarking, "Oh Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"
He was famously parodied in on the BBC in the 1960s by Kenneth Williams as Rambling Syd Rumpo who was a recurring character on Round the Horne. His claims of authenticity as a folk artist (despite being a Jewish doctor's son from New York City) and disparagement of other folk artists were also parodied by the Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) in A Mighty Wind both in the name of their "hit" Ramblin' and in their claims that their version was more authentic than the New Main Street Singers's version.
Jack Elliott's first recording in 20 years, "South Coast", earned him his first Grammy in 1995. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998. Ramblin' Jack's long career and strained relationship with his daughter Aiyana were chronicled in her 2000 documentary, "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack".
At 75, he has recently changed labels and released "I Stand Alone" on the Anti- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; again, an idiosyncratic collection of little-known music delivered with humor and intensity. He is on record as saying his intention was to title the album "Not For The Tourists" because it was recorded in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When she asked why he did not play them in public, he replied "These songs are not for the tourists".
Don't Think Twice It's All Right
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 anymore
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
Ramblin' Jack Elliott's "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" is a song full of melancholy, containing complex emotions masked in a simple melody. The song is about a man who is leaving his lover, and he is telling her that there is no need to dwell on the reasons why he’s leaving, it's just the way it is. He repeats this line throughout the song; "Don't think twice, it's all right." The first stanza is the most straightforward, saying that it is useless for the woman to ponder the reason behind the man’s departure, as it wouldn’t change anything, he is leaving anyway.
The second stanza is full of contrasts; the man says that it is useless to turn on the light since he is already walking in the dark. Then he says that he still wishes the woman would say something to make him change his mind, but at the same time, they never talked too much anyway. This line is to remind us that the man is not going to change his mind; he knows what he wants.
In the third stanza, the singer restates that there is no reason to call out his name since he is already gone. He reveals that he gave her his heart, but he wouldn’t give up his soul, which is a metaphor for individuality. The singer emphasizes that he is not angry at the woman for wasting his time, even though he could have done better. Instead, he chooses to look back on this time with a sense of acceptance and wishes her farewell.
Line by Line Meaning
It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
There’s no point in trying to analyze things when the relationship is already over.
It don't matter, anyhow
It doesn't matter because it's already been done.
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
Reiterating the point that dwelling on the reasons for the end of the relationship won’t change anything.
If you don't know by now
If you still haven’t figured out why things didn’t work out, there’s no point in trying to figure it out now.
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
As the day gets started and things continue to move forward.
Look out your window and I'll be gone
Even if you tried to look for me, you wouldn’t find me because I’m not there anymore.
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
The end of this relationship means I have to keep moving forward with my life.
Don't think twice, it's all right
Don't worry about it, everything is okay.
It ain’t no use in turnin' on your light, babe
There is no point in trying to reach out to me or save this relationship.
That light I never knowed
That isn’t something that will make a difference now, it’s too late.
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
Reiterating the point that there is no chance of saving the relationship.
I'm on the dark side of the road
I have moved on to a place where I can't see the bright side of life anymore.
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
While I'm done with this relationship, I still wish there was some attempt to save it.
To try and make me change my mind and stay
I’m ready to move on, but I still wish there was some effort on your part to make things right.
We never did too much talkin' anyway
Our relationship wasn't characterized by clear communication and understanding of one another.
So don't think twice, it's all right
Don't worry about it, everything is okay.
It ain’t no use in callin' out my name, gal
There’s no point trying to contact me.
Like you never did before
It won't make a difference now.
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Reiterating the point that there is no chance of turning things around.
I can't hear you anymore
I have already moved on from this relationship and what we once shared.
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
As I move forward in my life, I'm thinking and wondering about what could have been.
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I once loved someone who was young and naive to love.
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Even though I loved her deeply, she could not be content with what I was offering.
But don't think twice, it's all right
Don’t think too hard about the past, it won't change the present.
I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
I'm moving on to a new and lonely phase of my life.
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
I don’t know where my journey will lead me, but I have to keep moving forward.
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
Saying goodbye is too final and full of sadness.
So I'll just say fare thee well
Instead, I’ll just say goodbye.
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
Despite the end of our relationship, I don't mean to say that you were unkind to me.
You could have done better but I don't mind
It may not have worked out, but I don’t hold it against you.
You just kinda wasted my precious time
While you didn’t treat me unkindly, I do feel like I wasted my time in this relationship.
But don't think twice, it's all right
Don't worry about it, everything is okay.
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Contributed by Adalyn B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Brody McCain
There was a time I suppose, a long time before radio when moving your fingers around on a wooden 'gitar' and getting your feelings out in a song about a female was actually about writing a song about that female and not about writing it to make money or get it on the radio or be famous.
A time when a boy writing a song well, he just had no idea that one day a thing called 'radio' would be invented or come along and would be used as a vehicle to push a song up the charts so other people could hear it other than just the birds and butterflies and inch worm crawlin' up the post on his little backwoods piece of land he called home. A time when writing a song wasn't about ambition or even passion for songwriting, but rather because if he didn't get what he was feeling out of his heart his heart was gonna burst open like a watermelon hitting the ground from 1000 feet into a 100 different pieces, the song was writen to tell Susie how much he loved her in hopes to win her precious heart and he could marry that gal, he just couldnt keep it in anymore and had to get it out of his heart and let her know and there was no other reason.
Sometimes when I listen to older type songs like this I think hes really singing it to somebody, not just saying gal or girl or honey or baby because its a word that fits, yeah that'll work.
But the song was actually about a real girl.
In other words a time when if you could travel there in one of those fancy time machines and overhear the boy playing his song and meet him and tell him
"That could be a hit"
He'd say "hit?"
Hewould even know what "hit" meant.
And tell him "You know it could climb up the charts"
He say "Well I dont nothin' about climbing up this thing you call charts but I can climb up that tree right over thar, you wanna see me climb up that thar tree? Susie says I'm a pretty good climber, you wanna see?"
You'd say "No no I mean it could be on the radio"
"Ray de oh" ??
I dont know what this "ray de oh" is you're talkin about but I just gotta get my gal back so you think she will like it?"
And you'd say
"Oh she's gonna like it alright, trust me she ain't ever gonna hear anything so beautiful to her ears in all her life"
I bet there's hundreds of songs we'll never know existed that are hits but they weren't written down cause the poor boy didnt even know how to write and there was no such thing as recording devices of any kind.
TheMrgaztop
1967...A cold and windy night in the slums of London. My Daddy put this on the Decca player he had just purchased. We kids went to sleep, warmer and safer listening to this east coast cowboy. I am now 53 and still feel that warmth.
Rick Arden
@D. Alex Hutchinson yeah really
John Thomson
@D. Alex Hutchinson: where did you learn Math, grammar and reading skills? The comment is 5 years old(6 now). The comment was made in 2013 less 53 equals 1960. The guy would have been 7 in 1967. Please finish middle school before you make anymore stupid comments.
Elisa Lipkau
I love everything this guy plays
Alex Hearn-Mackinnon
Jack Elliott defined the genre of the guitarist/harmonica player of the 50s and 60s. He was an amazing, probably the best, interpreter of other peoples songs, especially Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Like others, I prefer Ramblin Jack's version of this song to that of Dylans. However, Dylan was the master song writer.
ananda1958
It's my favorite as well. Dylan was ok, but this version is so much better! (of course we will all see that differently lol) I just find it is the version I keep coming back to hear again and again....
Jeff Yost
Don’t think twice.......it’s just mesmerising.
thepaintedwhores
This song makes me cry every time.
Richie B
Back in the very early 60s, my older sister got into the folk music scene (including Jack Elliott) on FM radio where we lived in L.A., while I was still into Top Forty AM stuff. My dad like Jack Elliott, so we got to go down and see him a few times, mainly at the Ash Grove. He was always very entertaining.
Marc Hosch
When Dylan recorded this, you smiled at the ultimate kiss-off. When you listen to Ramblin' Jack Elliot, your heart just breaks.