Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam, and accept that the water around you have grown,
And admit 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 prophesy 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 and congressmen, please heed the call,
Don't you stand in the doorway, don't you block up the hall, for he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled,
There's a battle outside and it's raging,
It'll shake through your windows and rattle your walls, for the times, they are a-changing.

Come, mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticise what you can't understand,
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command,
Your old road is rapidly aging, so get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand, for the times, they are a-changing.

For the times, they are a-changing,
For the times, they are a-changing,
For the times, they are a-changing.