“The Times They Are A-Changin’” was written by Bob Dylan in September and October 1963. He recorded a demo for his music publisher in that period, and then recorded the song at Columbia Studios in New York on 23 and 24 October; the second session produced the version that became the title track of his 1964 album. In a 1985 interview Dylan described it as a song written with a purpose, an anthem of change meant to be big in feel but made of short, concise verses that piled up on one another. He said it was influenced by the Irish and Scottish ballads, naming “Come All Ye Bold Highway Men” and “Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens,” and that the civil rights and folk music movements were closely allied at the time.
Each verse begins by calling a different group to attention: people everywhere, writers and critics, senators and congressmen, and mothers and fathers. All are told that change is coming and that standing in its way will not stop it; the last verse turns on the idea that the first now will be last later. The song was not released as a US single, but a British single in 1965 reached number 9 on the UK chart.
Bluegrass and country musicians have recorded it since. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs recorded it in Nashville on 16 September 1968 for their album Nashville Airplane (Columbia, 1968), which included songs by Bob Dylan and Buffy Sainte-Marie, and the CMH Studio Band included it on Tangled Up in Bluegrass: A Tribute to Dylan (CMH, 2001).
