John Mellencamp covers Bob Dylan for a "Change"

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images