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’
| Notes from a fan in the audience: Suddenly at the start of The Times They Are A-Changin’ there’s a girl standing on stage. Blond, dressed in black, wearing a hat like it could have been a souvenir of the Rolling Thunder Revue. She wants to sing with Dylan. The bodyguard wants to take her away, but Dylan says it’s OK. They sing the first verse together. She sings great! Then Dylan steps back to play some guitar, probably expected her to leave, but she stays on stage. Dylan shows her his guitar as if he wants to say: “Maybe youwanna take this over as well?” Then the bodyguard again comes to take her away, but Dylan again says it’s OK. They sing the whole song together (and it sounds very good!) although Liz Souissi from Bern, Switzerland, is shaking all over, nervous as she is. All the time there are big cheers and lots of applause from the crowd. When the song is over, she starts to walk off stage, but then returns, giving Bob a big hug and kiss. This was front-page news in the local newspaper: “A Kiss for Swiss Liz”. Her comments: “This is what I always dreamed of. I almost didn’t dare, but still I took a chance on it. Of course I expected to be taken away immediately. To me this is the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.” And it was beautiful for many people in the crowd. Bob even smiled when all this happened. |
Muziekcentrum Frits Philips
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
17 February 1993
Musicians:
- Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
- Bucky Baxter (electric mandolin)
- John Jackson (guitar)
- Tony Garnier (bass)
- Winston Watson (drums & percussion)
- …and Liz Souissi (shared vocals)
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’
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’
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’
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’
-Egil
Where is Liz now? I suppose she is still a fan. What a wonderful emotion for her that time