The Times They Are A-Changin'

This song was recorded in 1964 and is about social change, and talks about the Civil Rights Movement. This is the social change discussed, a new social order where all are equals. It discusses the change in the way things are, a new mainstream, a new view, and he says that if you don't change with it, you'll be left behind. The story is told in a historic perspective, and I feel that Bob Dylan actively participated in. The way the song is makes it sound like he is participating and appealing to others to join the new "way." The song itself is kind of a metaphor in that it compares the change in social order, to the flow of water and a spinning wheel, and he says they are all gaining momentum, so join before it is too late. I like the song, I can picture him sitting somewhere on a street corner playing this song to tell his message. It is almost like he is proselytizing for his cause. It allows us about how the Civil Rights Movement appealed to many people and how it gained momentum and began to snowball leading to a large following which resulted to large turnouts of people of all ethnicity and from all walks of life at demonstrations for civil change.