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 open, the chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin

And there's no telling who that it's naming

Oh 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 her that has stalled

The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows

And rattle your hall

For the times, they are a changing



Come mothers and fathers all over this 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 a hand

For the times they are a changing



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

The slow one will later be fast

And the present now will soon be the past

The order is rapidly fading

The first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a changing