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 prophecise 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 the hall,

for he that gets hurt

will be he who has stalled,

there's a battle

outside and it's 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 criticise

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'.