PAUL CLAYTON

Paul Clayton (Joe Alper)

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PAUL CLAYTON SONG AS TUNE/LYRICS SOURCE OF DYLAN SONG:

BARRY KORNFELD: Paul had a copyright on a song called "Who's Gonna Buy Your Ribbons When I'm Gone." The lyrics are "Ain't no use to sit and sigh; ain't no use to sit and wonder why... tell me, who's gonna buy your ribbons when I'm gone."

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."

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When it became a legal question, the song was actually traced down to a song that was exactly the same as Paul's called, "Who's Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I'm Gone." So, in effect, everything that Dylan took was actually public domain. They remained friends but their publishing companies were suing each other.

Robbie Woliver, Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene, New York, NY, 1986, pp. 88-89.

PAUL CLAYTON SONG IN DYLAN'S REPERTOIRE:

"Gotta Travel On" (May 1960 St. Paul Tape; Mar 5, 1970/Mar 13, 1970 (overdubs) "Self Portrait" studio recording; all-star finale of 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue II shows.

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• Buddy Holly -- Dylan's first exposure to Paul Clayton song?

BARRY KORNFELD:
Paul lived on dexies... After his system was weakened he took a little bit of acid, and that pushed him off the deep end. He sold his writer's share of "I've Gotta Travel On." It was a public domain song but he got the copyright on it, and then when he got crazy he sold his shares..."

ibid., pp. 88-89.

PAUL CLAYTON -- INSPIRATION FOR DYLAN SONG(S)?

BARRY KORNFELD:
Paul was gay, which was something he could not live with... Paul had a tremendous crush on Dylan. I believe that "It Ain't Me, Babe" was written for Paul Clayton...

ibid., p. 88.

ANTHONY SCADUTO:
Paul Clayton, who came from the old whaling town, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and who sang sea chanties went around singing Dylan's praises to any who would listen.
"Bobby worshipped Pablo Clayton artistically," one of the folksingers from those days recalls. "And Pablo became absolutely fixated on Bobby. Bobby could talk about nothing else but Woody Guthrie, and Pablo could talk about nothing else but Bobby Dylan."

Anthony Scaduto, Bob Dylan, London 1972, p. 59.

Although it is denied by Dylan, his friends claim that he composed "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" as a symbolic termination of his close relationship with Paul Clayton.

Kristin Baggelaar & Donald Milton, The Folk Music Encyclopedia, London, 1977, p. 73.