Things Have Changed

I really like Bob Dylan. I grew up listening to his songs (when they were newly released on vinyl, no less!) and with just a bit of a refresher, I could probably still sing along with him on "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Which is by way of explaining why I have (at least) one of his CDs in my car and was listening to him while driving somewhere over the weekend. Anyway, I was listening to "Things Have Changed" and ruminating about whether it was a now-an-older-guy response to his own much earlier "The Times They Are A-Changin'" when it suddenly occurred to me that with some minor lyric modifications, "Things Have Changed" could be an anthem of sorts for transfolk. And so I did that: I modified the lyrics. (I apologize to Mr. Zimmerman now.)

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The original lyrics have been crossed out where they've been replaced by my changes in purple. So now you can listen and watch Dylan perform "Things Have Changed" (after the commercial - sorry) while reading along with my slightly modified lyrics below.

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There's a woman on my lap and she's drinking champagne in my mirror and she's got my name
Got white skin, got assassin's eyes
I'm She's looking up into sapphire tinted skies
I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train

Bridge 1:
Standing on the gallows with my head in the noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose

Chorus:
People are crazy and times are gender's strange
I'm Not locked in tight, I'm out of a whole big range
I used to care be a guy, but things have changed

This place ain't doing me any good
I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons do the jitterbug rag
Ain't no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove

Bridge 2:
Lot of water under the bridge, Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through

(Chorus)

I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand

Bridge 3:
Feel like falling in love with dressing up like the first woman I meet
Putting her in wheelbarrow and wheeling her Just copying her whole look and walking off down the street

(Chorus)

I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds can be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

Bridge 4:
Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
Some people live a whole life that's a fake
I'm not that eager to make a mistake

(Chorus)