Joel, Billy - The Times They Are A-Changin' Lyrics






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
And it is 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'.





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Joel, Billy The Times They Are A-Changin' Comments
  1. L.... A....

    ja! the part about senators and congressmen was cut out ... curiously ... :-)

  2. P.... G....

    Great cover.

  3. A.... c....

    2nd best after Bob Dylan.

    Bob believed what he said while everyone else are just singing.

  4. R.... i....

    If people are needed a translator to understand who's song it is, then its useless to listen to it. Dylan; s songs are in lyrics, not in music or voice.

  5. R.... L....

    Billy is amazing

  6. f.... p....

    Remember watching this when it aired on television.

  7. L.... B....

    So impressive

  8. T.... S....

    This was awful big fan of billy Joel but this was shit, lyrics wrong a few times and just sounded badly out of time. Bob wouldn’t like it.

    T.... S....

    Yeah...there's a good few, other than Dylan, that sang this and they all changed the lyrics, some more noticeable than others.

  9. J.... S....

    That sure made me cry!!!! Wow! Great!! The power of music!

  10. C.... S....

    They cut out a whole verse. The one that goes
    "Come senators, congressmen,
    Please heed the call
    Don't stand in the doorway,
    Don't block the hall,
    For he that' gets hurt
    Will be he who 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'

  11. G.... ....

    One, never seen Billy Joel pick up a guitar. And second, this a damn good cover.

    G.... ....

    youll see him , or you used to anyway back in the 2000s and even 90s, put a guitar on for 'we didn't start the fire' but he was turned wayyy down in the mix and basically just playing the 5ths of the song. you can see by hs strumming pattern that there's no way he's even practically in the mix lol. he's a better guitarist than a lot of metalheads are

  12. R.... L....

    Billy is a genius

    R.... L....

    Rosa Linhares about this being the best version, i hate to disagree with ya, but listen to the bob dylan version, just search on YT the times they are a changin, and click the first one that pops up, its the first and original version by bob dylan in the 1960's

  13. R.... L....

    This is the best version of this song.

    R.... L....

    agree... better than the original for sure

    R.... L....

    The guitar is literally off beat multiple times during this performance. Love Billy but this doesn’t touch Dylan’s

    R.... L....

    Come sempre Piano Man non sbaglia un colpo

  14. R.... L....

    This song is beautifulBecause you Billy

  15. A.... S....

    He said "this song has been going around and around in my head." At the end of Back in the USSR in the matter of trust in Russia album.

  16. G.... A....

    I hoped the guy would have kept translated while he was singing.

  17. J.... F....

    Billy Joel can play guitar??

    J.... F....

    He can, but in his own words, "not very well". He can also play the accordion.

    J.... F....

    +Lee Linnell Wow, I had no idea - that's so cool!

    J.... F....

    +Eric Johnson - There's a reason why he's referred to as the Piano Man and not the Guitar Man.

    J.... F....

    +J F H McCudden - He's more of a strummer than a picker and plays it of sorts on songs like A Matter of Trust, We Didn't Start the Fire and has also at times has done so for Allentown and The Entertainer.

    J.... F....

    I think almost every one who can play the piano well can at least handle a guitar reasonably.

  18. B.... T....

    Awesome job! You nailed it!!!

  19. J.... ....

    he was in Russia

  20. A.... ....

    "the slow one now will later be last", haha too bad.

    A.... ....

    It looks like he is reading the lyrics from a sheet off of the piano rather than singing them from memory and I imagine he saw the "last" in his eye line from the later lyric.

    Sometimes when I have a few drinks (not that I'm saying Billy had here lol) and do karaoke I'm better not looking at the lyrics on screen at times as I find it distracting.

    A.... ....

    yeah he flubbed that one....so-so version....no one does Dylan better than Dylan...no one.

  21. �.... �....

    Прекрасно поет!!!!

  22. R.... A....

    Bravo come sempre il più completo di tutti

  23. a.... ....

    This was a TV show appearance he did during his tour of the Soviet Union in 1987.

  24. W.... G....

    Where was he?

  25. H.... B....

    Part of the song was cut out

  26. t.... ....

    Thank you.

  27. P.... B....

    @metalshadowmario4 This was indeed during Joel's popularity peak.

  28. R.... ....

    Thumbs up ^.... smile :-)

  29. m.... ....

    I wonder, was Billy on the top of popularity at this point?

  30. i.... ....

    - Just Billy and a guitar,- [ the only thing missing is the "This Machine Kills Fascists" lettering on the guitar ],- showing PRE BREAKUP RUSSIA,- and anyone else that wants to know,- - PussyBlingBling ain't got nothin ta do with *BadAss*.

    i.... ....

    nice, like a woody guthrie guitar

  31. S.... ....

    Is there more from this show?