Paul Clayton (folksinger) - Alleged Plagiarism By Bob Dylan

Alleged Plagiarism By Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's friendship with Clayton dated back to 1961, Dylan's first year in New York City. Dylan traveled cross-country with Clayton and two other friends in 1963, during which they visited poet Carl Sandburg in North Carolina, attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans and rendezvoused with Joan Baez in California.

In an interview published as part of a history of Greenwich Village folk club Gerde's Folk City, folksinger Barry Kornfeld described how Clayton's "Who's Gonna Buy You Ribbons (When I'm Gone)" morphed into Dylan's "Don't Think Twice":

"I was with Paul one day, and Dylan wanders by and says, 'Hey, man, that's a great song. I'm going to use that song.' And he wrote a far better song, a much more interesting song - 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right'."

Dylan's and Clayton's publishing companies sued each other over the alleged plagiarism. As it turned out, Clayton's song was derived from an earlier folksong entitled "Who's Gonna Buy You Chickens When I'm Gone?", which was in the public domain. The lawsuits, which were settled out of court, had no effect on the friendship between the two songwriters.

In the notes to Biograph (album) (1985), Dylan acknowledges that "'Don't Think Twice' was a riff that Paul had." He also credits Clayton for the melody line to "Percy's Song".