THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

358-Bob Dylan-The Times They Are a-Changin.’

1965-Number 9 single.

Best Bit-At 2.36. It appears that the lyrics are as relevant now as they were when Dylan originally wrote them in 1963, and they probably always will be.

Bob Dylan wrote the songs lyrics between September and October 1963 as a deliberate attempt to create an anthem for change. He has said,’This was definitely a song with a purpose. It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads,’Come All Ye Bold Highway Men,’ ‘Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens.’ I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in an hypnotic way. The Civil Rights Movement and the Folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time.’

‘The Times They Are a-Changin’ is also the title of Bob Dylan’s third studio Album released in January 1964, his first Album to consist of only original material. Dylan’s friend, the musician, and author Tony Glover (1939-2019) recalled visiting Dylan’s apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts, and poems lying on the table. Glover reportedly asked Dylan,’What is this sh.t man?’ to which Dylan responded,’ Well, you know, it seems to be what the people like to hear.’ This track and it’s parent Album were produced by Tom Wilson (1931-1978) who is considered one of the most important and innovative producers of all time. He is credited with helping Bob Dylan create a more ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ sound, and worked also as producer for other all time greats including The Velvet Underground,(see also best songs 401 and 165) and Simon & Garfunkel (see also best songs (529-200-96 and 71.)

Shortly after Dylan (see also best songs 792-621-103-36 and 7) had recorded ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’ President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The next night Dylan opened a concert with the song, he told his biographer Anthony Scaduto (1932-2017) ‘I thought wow, how can I open with that song? I’ll get rocks thrown at me, but I had to sing it, my whole concert took off from there. I know I had no understanding of anything. Something had just gone haywire in the country, and they were applauding the song, and I couldn’t understand why they were clapping, or why I wrote the song. I couldn’t understand anything. For me it was just insane.’

In 2010 handwritten lyrics to the first four verses of ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’ jotted on a scrap of paper by Dylan were sold for $422,500 at a ‘Sotherbys’ sale in New York, the lucky bidder was the contemporary art collector Adam Sender.

‘The line is drawn, the curse 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.’