Already one of the best early works from Bob Dylan, Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, simply improves when heard live. This rip from his performance at The Gaslight in 1962 is a monumental version. A truly important piece of work which, even now, stands up beyond compare. An absolute killer of a song. One of those true beauties which is expanded on in the live setting, as it is here, Live at the Gaslight. There is joy in what we now perceive as simplicity, in the one-man-and-a-guitar performance style, but simplicity is anything but when Dylan is concerned. His performance here is filled with roaring folk protest moments, but there was nothing better than Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. It feels gruesome, almost, to suggest it is nowhere close to his greatest songs but it is because of what he went on to do, more so than anything wrong with the song. Case in point, this live version.
Perhaps it is overexposure to the classics which weighs us down, which prevents us from truly loving these pieces of work from Dylan. There is an undeniable perfection to the song from the studio, and even more when it is taken to a live showcase. His near-perfect rendition from The Gaslight stage is a hell of a way to experience Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. It is the acoustic bliss towards the end which makes this one of the best. A riotous performance where the crowd is barely audible, but you can gauge their reaction nonetheless. You are in the presence of a one-of-a-kind listening experience, after all. Nothing comes close to this performance at The Gaslight. The performance as a whole is immaculate but Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, stands as the true highlight of an exceptional set.
It is the tempo change which settles in as somewhat staggering. An impressionable mind must seek Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright out at once. A song which still blows a listener away not just through its lyrical responsibility but its acerbic instrumental skill. Here, it is developed further, taken a step too far and confidently so by a stage presence which was not yet defined. Those raw moments from Dylan often serve as his best examples as a musician, as a performer, too. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright would sound just as promising and filled with hopes for a brighter future without any instrumentals to it, the spoken-word strength of a Dylan track like this is there for the taking.
But it has a roaring acoustic effort in it and we are all the better for it. A genuine achievement of a live performance right here, the craftsman hard at work on what would become a defining song which still, for many, is a real peak. For those wanting to learn that little bit more about the song, they could not be in a better position than when listening to this Live at the Gaslight performance. Rip it from its place on the live album, take it and run. Listen in and often to one of the defining performances of Dylan in the 1960s, when the storm of interest in his life was not as guided or pointed, and when his development as an artist on stage was the defining moment of the day, time and again. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright is a magnificent song in its many rights, but live, it takes on a powerful new form.
