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 changing



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 will be later to win

For the times, they are a changing



Come senators, congressmen, please head 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 ragging will soon shake your windows

And rattle your WALLS

For the times, they are a changing



Come mothers and fathers THROUGH OUT THE land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command

Your old role is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend YOUR hand

For the times they are a changing



The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast

The slow one NOWwill later be fast

AS the present now will LATER be the past

The order is rapidly fading

AND The first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a changing