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 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
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'.