Bob Dylan The Times They Are A Changin Analysis

Bob Dylan was born May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota.
During high school dances he used to imitate rock stars like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard at the piano. In college in Minneapolis, he began to perform at local cafés. He sang folk and country songs under the name of Bob Dylan (after the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas) instead of his birth name Robert Allen Zimmerman. Dylan later dropped out of college and moved to New York where his folksinger idol, Woody Guthrie, was hospitalized. Dylan was a regular in Woody´s hospital room and in the folk clubs. Dylan wrote a song to his ailing hero “ song to Woody”. In 1961 he signed with Columbia Records after he received a good review in The New York Times.

Dylan had a rapid start of his career with three of

The song was written during the civil rights movement in the 60’s. It treats the fact that the politics and the structure of the community are in change. He connect the history through parables, so as “admit the waters around you have grown”, which refers to that people need to wake up to see what is happening with racism and poverty. The song later request the people to stand up against this so things does not end up worse, as it continues with “Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone”. Throughout the song, Dylan want to tell people to not work out as blockers and let changes happen. He indicates that people should be allowed to be who they are, and no one have the right to judge another as he sings “And don't criticize What you can't understand”. Anyhow, there is a deepness to the song’s title in which may not be noticed at first. While most probably think about the song as changing times, what Dylan really is encouraging is that you should not try to preserve the old. If something is changing for the better you must not stand against the changing