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'
And 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
The battle outside ragin'
Will 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'
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'
And 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
The battle outside ragin'
Will 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'
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CNN should play "With God On Our Side" every twenty minutes.
We'll have to wait four more years for the President of the US stop being an embarassment. A shame.
Dylan always gives us hope!
"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'."
The second verse warns the authors, journalists, artists, etc of the time to watch for change, observe it, and record it. He talks of sudden twists of fate, unexpected victories.
Verse three screams Vietnam to me. Dylan is telling our politicians to stop closing their eyes to the fact that Vietnam is real, people are getting killed, and it will soon hit closer to home than comfortable. He is asking them to take action.
4 seems to be asking people to stop a-bitchin'. Their children are out in the world, and they can't control them anymore. They need to let go of old fears and prejudices and get with the times.
5 sums it up. Live in the now, change your ways, accept the past but look forward.
K... these are my opinions. Don't bash 'em. Disagree all you want, but don't turn this into some kind of personal war.
And I personally connect this song to today - the fight against same-sex marriage. Your old road is rapidly aging, bigots.
But that's just me.
Wonderful song.
What you can't understand. End of Discussion.
And in the meantime, check out the song Pet by A Perfect Circle. And if you can, go to their site and watch the video "Counting Bodies". It is very educational.
This is a good song indeed. Revolution is coming.
And I also love that they used this song for the opening title of Watchmen. It's perfect. And I also love that they used the original version and didn't lete anybody cover it. It's simply perfect and give me goosebumps every damn time!
I love the "come mothers and fathers" verse. It describes the way I'm feeling right now, as I just turned 18, very well.
"Don't critisize what you can't understand, your sons and daughters are beyond your comand, your road is rapidly aging, please get out of the new one if you cant lend a hand"
It's definitivly about change, in any shape or form I think. I think this song is pretty open to very indivdual interpretation. People's lives will dictate what they think it's about, which is great. I love songs that can mean a million different things to a million different people.