The Times They Are-a Changing

This song off the 1964 with the same name was letting people all around the world that we were witnessing a change in the world. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing and things were eventually going to be different in the world. He calls on all types of people to come “head the call” and take up action. From writers to politicians, and the mothers and fathers who don’t want change. The times truly did change and I think Dylan, although not an instrumental figure like Kennedy of King, still was able to reach people in way those men could not, sure they were great orators and gave us some of the greatest speeches of all times, but Dylan was able to reach them in other ways and that was through the power of song. He was able to reach people who were not affected by these actions and didn’t see them every day and make them realize that something had to be done and as it was you had to be on the right side.

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’
Then 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 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 hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’.
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 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’.