A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).
Come gather ‘round people, where ever you roam And admit that the waters around you have grown 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 prophesy with their pens 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’ And the loser now will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators and congressmen please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorways; don’t block up the hall For he who 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’
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land 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 is drawn; the curse it is cast The slow one now will later be fast As the present now will later be past Your order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin’
The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan
ReplyDeleteCome gather ‘round people, where ever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
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 prophesy with their pens
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’
And the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators and congressmen please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorways; don’t block up the hall
For he who 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’
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
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 is drawn; the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
Your order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’