Change my way of thinking, bring¹ myself a different set of rules,

Gonna change my way of thinking, bring myself a different set of rules,

Gonna put my good foot forward, stop being influenced by fools.

So much oppression, can't keep track of it no more,

Said there's so much oppression, can't keep track of it no more,

Sons becoming husbands to their mothers, old men turning young daughters into whores.

Stripes on your shoulder, stripes on your back and on your hand,

Swords piercing your side, blood and water flowing through the land.

Well, don't know which one is worse – doing your own thing or just being cool,

Don't know which is worse – doing your own thing or being cool,

You remember only 'bout the brass ring, you're forgetting all about the golden rule.

You can mislead a man, you can take a hold of his heart with your eyes,

You can mislead a man, take hold of his heart with your eyes,

But there's only one authority – that's the authority on high.

I got a God-fearing woman, one I can easily afford,

She can do the Georgia Crawl, she can walk in the spirit of the Lord.

Jesus said, "Be ready for you know not the hour which I come",

He said, "Who's not for me is against me", just so you know where He's coming from.

There's a kingdom called Heaven, a place where there is no pain of birth,

There's a place––they call it Heaven, a² place where there is no pain of birth,

Well, the Lord created it, mister, about the same time that He made the earth.

¹ Other sources transcribe this verb as "make" (the same goes for the following line).

² This does not come out very clearly: I believe Dylan sort of stumbles after the word "Heaven" and starts to say something else before quickly transitioning to the correct lyrics.

Gonna Change My Way of Thinking