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 the one who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's 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 a hand
For the times, they are a-changin'
The line, it is drawn and the curse, it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
And the present now will later be past
And the order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin'