The Times They Are A-Changin'

Listen while you read: A bit scratchy, but it's authentic.

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 open, 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 that has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's 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'

~  Bob Dylan

You might have thought that I chose this song today as a gentle reminder to turn your clocks back one hour before you hit the sack tonight. And you would be right. But, as seems to happen way too often to be coincidence, the song offers a certain prescience. (Wow, I didn't realize that word would look like pre-science! Weird!) "The Times They Are A-Changin'" appears on the album of the same name, Dylan's third, released in January 1964.

But he first performed the song on October 26, 1963, at Carnegie Hall. That was 54 years ago. (I did the math for you. You're welcome.) How could he have possibly known about climate change when he asked us to admit that the waters around you have grown / And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. Well, he didn't know about climate change then, and it is likely that he was speaking metaphorically. He says that the song was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and that he wanted to write a "big song." Often considered one of the greatest protest songs of all time, I don't think he knew how "big" it would become.

Now tell me you didn't get chills when you read the third verse? Of course his admonition to the House and the Senate was appropriate to the discontent of the Sixties, but it seems to me that there is more standing in the doorway and blocking up the hall these days than back then. For he who gets hurt will be he who has stalled brings the upcoming mid-term elections to mind, but to my way of thinking, the lines speak to something way more dangerous. The Keeper of the Nuclear Codes could come undone at any time, and if he is not removed, we will all be hurt. Beyond hurt. As in DEAD.

The wheel's still in spin. That's for sure! Whether we're talking about honest journalism or "fake news," our First Amendment is being threatened. Keep your eyes open / The chance won't come again. The loser already won, but that doesn't mean that we lose everything else that is dear to our democracy.

Oh, dear. All I wanted to do here was remind you to turn back your clocks. I'd like to turn mine back to November 8, 2016, and if all of us could power that magic, perhaps we would wake up on November 9 to a very different outcome. One in which the first one now will later be last.

In the meantime, I hope you wake up to a sunny morning, a first step out of the darkness.