“The Climate Is a-Changin’“ - Marsh Family adaptation of Bob Dylan, “Times They Are a-Changin’“
In light of the startling news about the climate data and record heatwaves in July 2023, and the shocking scenes in many parts of the world experiencing unprecedented fires and disruption, we are revisiting the issue of global warming in this cover of Bob Dylan’s heart-wrenching protest song recorded sixty years ago, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (released 1964).
In the UK, bizarrely, both major political parties have lately started to tone down their messaging around the climate emergency and how to combat it. They seem motivated by hopes or fears about how the message may come across in the short term to voters, with everyone understandably worried about inflation, economic stress, and near-term crisis. Meanwhile, the usual suspects continue to pedal ridiculous claims denying climate change and ignoring the overwhelming evidence and scientific consensus. The accelerating data and carnage shows that if we care about our kids (let alone other people’s kids) we haven’t got time for either the political short-sightedness or the lunacy of denialism. So Dylan’s emphasis on looking past the old ways, and speaking to concentric audiences, felt apt. It’s a bit rough around the edges, and we nearly included Tess harmonica solos in between the verses, but those gave it too much of a comedy vibe for a burning subject.
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Adapted Lyrics:
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the temperatures
Round you have grown
And accept it that soon
We’ll be burned to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start thinkin’
Beyond your tombstone
For the climate is a-changin’
Come writers and sceptics
Who undermine with your pens
And keep spreading lies
Then repeat them again
The denier’s a tool
When their paid for their spin
And there’s no doubting
Who’s doing the payin’
But the science shows clear
As the data comes in
That the climate is a-changin’
Come all politicians
Please look down the road
Don’t stand on the wrong side
When touting for votes
For we all get hurt
When you hide or you stall
The battle outside’s ragin’
It’ll take more than pledges
Or cowards or fools
For the climate is a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And work with your eyes
And your hearts and your hands
Your sons and your daughters
Have much to withstand
Our planet is rapidly warmin’
We haven’t a new one
If you don’t take a stand
For the climate is a-changin’
The line’s not yet drawn
And the curse not yet cast
We can slow it down now
But we have to act fast
For the worst case scenario
Coming to pass
It is not that the Earth turns to wasteland
But us wasting the last chance
To put it to rights
For the climate is a-changin’
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Thanks to all our wonderful Patreons and especially our Howlers who have already had a heads-up about this song, and Thomas’s ongoing mandolining...
HOWLERS:
Andy Riches
Carol Leff
Cliff Hope
Dave Lee
David Patrao
David Ryan
Derrick Brown
Douglas Lind
Jim the Magician
Grandad
Lew
Meredith Dicks
Uncle Mike
Simon Haslam
Todd
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