You may hate his nasal voice, but it’s impossible to deny Bob Dylan is one of our greatest songwriters, poets, and balladeers ever to hit the folk and pop music stage. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan (now 81) has been an icon for over sixty years and he’s sold above 125 million records—plus winning a Nobel Prize. Three of his best-known songs are Like a Rolling Stone, Blowin’ in the Wind, and The Times They are a Changin’. All have prophetic words from Bob Dylan.
The Times They are a Changin’ is timeless work. Think about the times changin’ from 1964, when Bob Dylan recorded the song, to 2022 today. Computers and the internet—soon to be the metaverse. Space flight and Mars sight. Smart phones. Amazon. Blockbuster to Netflix. Facebook and TikTok. Environmental adjustment. (I don’t say climate change or global warming because for the past 10,000 years our globe’s climate has been changing and warming.) Electric, driverless vehicles. Crazy political polarization. Wokeism. A pandemic. A new war (now in the Ukraine). And so much more change.
Bob Dylan’s words, written in 1964, are just as relevant today as they were back in the sixties. I had a life moment, recently, where I went on a long, reflective walk and thought about Dylan’s The Times They Are a Changin’ and re-read the lyrics and changed my worldview. And I thought I’d share Bob Dylan’s prophetic words with you on DyingWords along with a young lady’s cover of Dylan’s masterpiece. Reina del Cid is an exceptionally talented musician who I really admire. Her natural voice and effortless strings are so soothing.
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’
Listen to Reina del Cid’s Bob Dylan cover
Listen to Bob Dylan’s Original Release
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’
Yes, the times are a-changin’
Great post, Garry. And so relevant today. Dylan was never my favorite singer, but you can’t deny his storytelling abilities. Ever listen to Ozzy’s lyrics? Amazing.
Thanks, Sue. I don’t know a thing about Ozzy whatsoever other than he’s a bit off the wall but, then, so am I 🙂
Thanks Gary, these prophetic words, are a kin to some of my thoughts that I explosed just a few days ago, about dismissing new ideas. What was deamed of as impossible 60 years ago are reality today. So let us not stop dreaming, I say, in spite of all the fear, I am still hoping that the best is yet to come. I am an optimist.
You are always the optimist, Guy. Also a realist, and I’m sure you’re shaking your head over some of the crap going on in the world at the moment. You’ve got 90 years behind you while I only have 65, but I believe we’ve got a great future ahead – especially what the metaverse has in store. I hope I make it to 90 and find out 🙂
Hey, Garry! Great post.
I have to confess that, having been a child of rather conservative parents in the ’50s and ’60s, I never was allowed to listen to “that” music. (I had some cool bus drivers though, who’d crank up the volume between stops and let us enjoy on our way to the high school!).
However, over my adult years, I’ve come to appreciate and even like some artists from that era. I’ve developed a love for Creedence, Dylan, the Eagles, and a few others. Some of their lyrics were prophetic, as you say.
At those times when I find myself a bit rebellious at the state of the universe (increasing each week), I set the volume on loud and drift away…not to Margaritaville, though…yet. 🙂
Thanks, Deb. We’ve got much the same taste in music. I know most lyrics to Creedence originals as well as John Fogerty’s new material. Same with the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, and many other greats of my growing up era. I was never a huge Dylan vocals fan, though – I’d much rather listen to Reina than Bob 🙂 But, man, can he write!