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-changin

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
Oh, 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 ragin'
Will soon shake your windows and rattle your halls
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 daughter are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a 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 fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin!