...don't think twice, it's all right.
As the somewhat disaffected-sounding Bob Dylan gives his indifferent imperative, one cannot help but suspect there's a touch of the ol' irony in there. This song wreaks of disappointment, perhaps a benign acceptance, albeit with a heart that has become a little calloused as a result, and hopes for something different.
I first encountered this song while watching a wonderful movie called 'Dogfight'. The movie was one of those late night TV discoveries. The premise: a marine (the night before he goes to war in 1963), Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix), has to find a date to take to a party called a 'dogfight' where prizes are given to those who bring the ugliest girls. He chooses Rose (Lili Taylor) who is extremely shy and sensitive, and also a pacifist. It's not a conventional love story (though I suppose in some ways it is: opposites attract, person becomes more attractive as you get to know them) and told with such genuine feeling that I was completely captivated by it. Watch it!
But back to the song. It is tinged with flippant regret, or lack thereof, and a subtle, or not so subtle, 'Screw you, Babe!' The contradictions capture the fullness of human emotion, the ways in which we manage to cope with heartache and a melancholy submission to the reality of life.
Surprisingly, I think you should listen to it. See what I did there? Irony.
Read the lyrics for 'Don't Think Twice it's All Right' here
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