Dissociated Thoughts

Day 10 - Bob Dylan

2/10/22

Other than Willie Nelson, one of the musicians that could make me swoon was Bob Dylan. The man's got the whole package: he writes his songs, he sings wonderfully (in my opinion), he plays guitar, and he plays the mouth harp. If I haven't said so before, let me say it now, I love the sounds that come out of a harmonica. Whether it is blues, country, folk, jazz, rock, or whatever, I love the sound of a harmonica.

Many of Bob's songs are just as meaningful today as they were back in the 1960's and 1970's when he wrote them. This is definitely true for the song I chose for today. The Times They Are A'Changin' has as much meaning today as it did in 1963 when it was first released.

Here are some interesting facts about this song:
* Bob Dylan commented about this song in the liner notes of his box-set album "Biograph" (1985) - "It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads …'Come All Ye Bold Highway Men', 'Come All Ye Tender-Hearted Maidens'. I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way."
* The song was originally recorded by Bob Dylan as a Witmark publishing demo in October 1963, a version that was later released on "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991".
* In the song, the line "Waters around you have grown" is a reference to the Biblical Flood, a metaphor for the civil rights movement in the 1960s - and it could also reference events happening more recently in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the world.
* The Times They Are A'Changin' reached number 9 in the British top-ten.
* In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Times They Are A'Changin' number 59 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

So yeah, it's worth a listen - or if you aren't a fan of his style of crooning, at least read the lyrics.

Other great and timeless Dylan songs include: Blowin' in the Wind (1962), Like a Rollin' Stone (1965), and Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1973).



Lyrics: ▼

The Times They Are A-Changin' written and performed by Bob Dylan

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 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'