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 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 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 telling who that it's naming
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times, they are a-changing.
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.
The battle outside raging
Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times, they are a-changing.
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 aging.
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times, they are a-changing.
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
And the first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a-changing.