1
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 savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
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 tellin' who
That it's namin'
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 hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will 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 agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
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 savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
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 tellin' who
That it's namin'
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 hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will 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 agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
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I can't believe I'd ever feel the need to express this in relation to a Bob Dylan song, but this is a website for song MEANINGS, so it would probably be best for everyone if personal political views were excluded. Bush bashing is a magnet for idiots who like to defend our elected enemy. I also like to just laugh and smile when people don't appreciate the original artists, and prefer covers. If they can't see the beauty in Dylan, then that's their loss. Anyways. About the song. In my opinion, the first verse is an allusion to a flood, something that is not strictly a biblical reference (seeing as Dylan was, as Freewheelin pointed out, Jewish when he wrote this song) but also an archetype that is used by almost every religion on earth. Dylan persists that we get with it with the lines "If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'."
The second verse warns the authors, journalists, artists, etc of the time to watch for change, observe it, and record it. He talks of sudden twists of fate, unexpected victories.
Verse three screams Vietnam to me. Dylan is telling our politicians to stop closing their eyes to the fact that Vietnam is real, people are getting killed, and it will soon hit closer to home than comfortable. He is asking them to take action.
4 seems to be asking people to stop a-bitchin'. Their children are out in the world, and they can't control them anymore. They need to let go of old fears and prejudices and get with the times.
5 sums it up. Live in the now, change your ways, accept the past but look forward.
K... these are my opinions. Don't bash 'em. Disagree all you want, but don't turn this into some kind of personal war.