Come gather around 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
'Cause the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers, come critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
'Cause 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
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
'Cause the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers, come fathers
Throughout the land
Oh, don't criticize
What you can't understand
Oh, your sons and your daughters
They' re beyond your command
And your ol' road is
Rapidly aging.
So, get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
'Cause the times they are a-changin'.

Oh, the line it is drawn
And the curse it is cast
Oh, the slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
Oh, the order is
Rapidly fading.
And the first one now
Will later past
'Cause the times they are a-changin'.