Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no telling who that it’s naming
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the halls
For he that gets hurt will be he that has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it’s raging
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand
For the times they are a-changin’
The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will later be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin’