Jimmy Fallon Sounds Just Like Bob Dylan on a Modern "The Times They Are A-Changin"

Bob Dylan's 1965 ballad "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is one of his best-known songs, and one of the most famous American protest anthems of all time. In 2018, amid another period of dynamic social change, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon shared an updated version, with Jimmy Fallon donning sunglasses, guitar, and a Dylan-esque wig to offer a hopeful and positive message for the modern era. 

Drawing on his Saturday Night Live-honed impression skills, Fallon all but became Dylan onstage during a live Tonight Show at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis following Super Bowl LII in 2018. Referencing the 1960s-era performances made famous in Don't Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker's acclaimed Bob Dylan documentary, Fallon perfectly channeled the singer-songwriter.

Watch Jimmy Fallon's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" performance here.

Jimmy Fallon as Bob Dylan performs "The Times They Are A-Changin'" from Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN. Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

Jimmy Fallon's Bob Dylan impression is excellent

Fallon's dead-accurate impersonation might be amusing on its own, but the Tonight Show's lyrics opted for sincerity and hope over going for laughs. Without naming specific politicians, the song promoted positivity and the power of a vote to make change.

"Come leaders who bully like Internet trolls / We’ll curse you with four-letter words 'love' and 'hope'," Fallon sang Dylan-style. "For we will go high even when you go low / The order is re-arranging, for you have the power, but we have the vote / The times they are a-changin’.'" 

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Whether or not you agree that "silence speaks louder than those who condone / If a tweet to you is worth favin’ / Then lift up your voices and put down your phones, for the times they are a-changin’" Fallon's Dylan impersonation is a wonder in itself. 

And it's not the only time The Tonight Show's offered fresh lyrics for a classic song: Miley Cyrus performed an empowering version of "Santa Baby" in a holiday episode that same year. 

Jimmy Fallon as Bob Dylan performs "The Times They Are A-Changin'" from Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN. Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

About Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" 

In the liner notes for Dylan's 1985 box set, Biograph, he told director Cameron Crowe that the tune 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’," Dylan said (quotes via American Songwriter).

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"I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way," Dylan continued. "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'" has been covered by artists including Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, Simon & Garfunkel, and Gary Clark, Jr. — and, in a sense, Jimmy Fallon.