Songwriter: 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
There's a battle outside 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 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'

Odetta

Born on New Year’s Eve in 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama, Odetta Holmes grew up to become a paradoxical an actress, civil rights activist, and musician transgressing numerous genres over the course of her career spanning half a century, creating nearly thirty albums. Her most prolific period was in the 1960s, and her work and influence connected the Consciousness Movement with the Civil Rights Movement. Her identity at the intersection between the two movements was epitomized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. consecrating her as “The Queen of American Folk Music.” She performed at benefits for the Civil Rights Movement, the 1963 March on Washington, and she marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for voting rights in 1965 in Selma, Alabama; in our classroom rhetoric, she certainly “showed up.” While generally classified as a folk singer, Odetta’s repertoire consisted of not only folk songs, but also blues, spirituals, prison songs, ballads, and lullabies. She emphasized expressive freedom rather than a purist commitment to a single genre.

From the album