28. august 1963 er det en stor marsj i Washington som samler 200.000 mennesker. Martin Luther King holder sin berømte «I have a dream»-tale, mens Dylan synger Blowin’ in the Wind og den da uutgitte Only a Pawn in their Game. Martin Luther King er selvsagt den viktigste personen og det viktigste symbolet i denne politiske omveltningen, men historien viser at Bob Dylans bidrag er vesentlig. Og det skulle ikke bli mindre med albumet The Times They Are A-Changin’.
22. november 1963, blir president John F. Kennedy skutt og drept i Dallas. USA og resten av verden er i sjokk. Kvelden etter går Bob Dylan på scenen og synger «The Times They Are A Changin'». Han sier i et intervju åtte år seinere at han ikke kunne forstå at publikum jublet for sangen. Da han skrev om at tidene ville endre seg, var det ikke med noe slags ønske om at noen president skulle dø.
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'
Låtskrivere: Bob Dylan
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