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Times They Are A-Changin'

What's your favorite verse?


  • Total voters
    11

five sounds

MyPeeSmellsLikeCoffee247
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Ok, I have this idea about the song Times They Are A-Changin by the one and only Mr. Bob Dylan. Great song, no doubt, but like a lot of his songs, I believe he hits a universal truth pretty well with this one. My idea is that all the verses in this song kind of represent different takes or perspectives on the same basic concept. So here's the question: Which verse is your favorite? Why? Also, please include your MBTI type and enneagram, so I can explore correlations if and when they arise. Thanks for obliging : D

VERSE 1
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'.

VERSE 2
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'.

VERSE 3
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'.

VERSE 4
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'.

VERSE 5
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'.
 

five sounds

MyPeeSmellsLikeCoffee247
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For your listening pleasure:

 

EJCC

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ESTJ 1w2, and definitely verse 5. Something about the Biblical imagery, and, more importantly, how ominous it is. It's the scariest and most powerful of the verses by virtue of being the least specific.

It's the textual version of the score at the end of "1776" -- on the one hand, it's triumphant, but on the other hand, it's so much more complicated, because it doesn't ignore the sacrifice and terror and pain that will ensue in order to triumph.

Starts at 6:03 -- they ring the bell to signify that they're signing the Declaration of Independence, that war has started, and that all of them might soon be executed.


I realize just how SJ it is for me to be using something so nationalistic as a comparison, but I swear I'm only comparing it for what I mentioned previously.
 

Galena

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ISFP 4. Verse numero five.

This is the most original thread I've seen in a long while.
 

EJCC

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This is the most original thread I've seen in a long while.
:yes:

I'm curious as to [MENTION=18819]nicolita[/MENTION]'s theories regarding this. :)

I mean, we've already got an ESTJ and an ISFP diggin' the "last shall be first" imagery of verse 5 -- easy to attribute to Fi.
 

five sounds

MyPeeSmellsLikeCoffee247
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:yes:

I'm curious as to [MENTION=18819]nicolita[/MENTION]'s theories regarding this. :)

I mean, we've already got an ESTJ and an ISFP diggin the "last shall be first" imagery of verse 5 -- easy to attribute to Fi.

Funny you should say that, about Fi and the "last shall be first" thing. I actually had thought of this a long time ago, and had forgotten which verse I chose back then. I've voted 1 on this poll, but I just remembered that I chose 2 before.

The interesting thing is that I interpreted that one as the first shall be last one. Or rather, how some of the best people, those who will ultimately be rewarded, are not the ones being written about or paid attention to. They are written off for being poor or crazy or whatever else.

No real theory though, I'm hoping correlations will start popping out though so I can start developing one or some :)
 

EJCC

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Funny you should say that, about Fi and the "last shall be first" thing. I actually had thought of this a long time ago, and had forgotten which verse I chose back then. I've voted 1 on this poll, but I just remembered that I chose 2 before.

The interesting thing is that I interpreted that one as the first shall be last one. Or rather, how some of the best people, those who will ultimately be rewarded, are not the ones being written about or paid attention to. They are written off for being poor or crazy or whatever else.
Well I'd argue that all five verses are "last shall be first" verses -- but verse five is more Biblical, which is why I had put that direct quote in. But that's the really interesting part about the thread you've made here (from my interpretation of it) -- you could argue that all five verses have pretty much the same point, when you get down to it, so the question is not which general meaning you prefer, but which lesser meaning and which details you like best.

No real theory though, I'm hoping correlations will start popping out though so I can start developing one or some :)
Looking forward to it. :)
 
P

Phantonym

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INFJ, 4w5

Verse 1: I like the imagery that people need to realize they can't hold on to old ways or resist the change, and they must do something before it's too late.
 

kquirk

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Well, every verse is fantastic. I'm drawn to verse 2, especially this part:

And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin

Pay attention if you want to learn something. Keep your options open. Don't say that you know when you don't fucking know.

We should do this again with Desolation Row...
 

Lady_X

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verse 1

because it creates such a mood or feeling experience...i guess.
 

The Ü™

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It's always funny to read lyrics by Bob Dylan, because that's when you realize he was saying actual words.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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If my thought dreams, could be seen, they'd put my head, in a guillotine.

Everybody said they'd stand behind me when the game got rough, but the joke was on me there was nobody even there to bluff.

Verse 2 or 1.... more uncertain, less hopeful.
 

Ivy

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To me, the song has such a strong unifying structure that I'm having a hard time really isolating any individual verse from the others. It's almost like a three-point essay. Intro, three topic paragraphs, conclusion. It's also very deeply connected to a specific time and place in history, to me.

But if I have to choose, I guess I'll say verse 4. Something about young people taking the mantle from the previous generations and making the world they're growing into. And while that is always happening I think there was a particular flavor to the youth movement of the 60s that is captured in this song. I think about all those kids who ran away to Haight-Ashbury, believing they could change the world- and in some ways they really did. I wasn't alive then but I watched all the The Wonder Years episodes with Karen in them so I totally know.
 
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