What A Complete Unknown Gets Right and Wrong About Bob Dylan

As a music enthusiast who’s spent countless hours immersed in the rich tapestry of Bob Dylan’s career, I can confidently say that his journey is nothing short of extraordinary. From the folk ballads of his early days to the electrifying rock anthems that would shake the very foundations of the music industry, Dylan’s story is a testament to the power of creativity and the courage to challenge the status quo.

On December 25, the movie “A Complete Unknown” hits theaters, featuring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. This eagerly awaited biopic follows Dylan’s journey to fame within New York City’s vibrant folk music scene during the 1960s.

The movie spans the years 1961-1965, a crucial period in Bob Dylan’s rise to fame, and follows his journey chronologically. It highlights significant figures who influenced him, including musicians such as Pete Seeger (portrayed by Edward Norton) and romantic interests like Suze Russo (played by Elle Fanning) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). The narrative reaches its climax at Dylan’s contentious performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, a time when the folk music world was divided over the use of electric guitars versus acoustic ones. Despite viewers being familiar with Dylan’s songs, they may still not feel they fully understand Dylan himself after watching the film.

At just 24 years old, Elijah Wald notes that he was seen as the representative voice of his generation. This observation is based on a book he authored titled “Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties“.

Experts on Dylan’s life were consulted by TIME, discussing the accuracy and inaccuracies presented in the film regarding the folk singer’s journey to stardom.

How did Dylan get his big break?

According to Michael Gray, author of Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan, it was fortunate timing for Dylan that he ended up in the right locations at the ideal moments. There were numerous music venues in New York City where performers could play, as they didn’t receive payment. Dylan managed to gain entry by traveling with two friends and making his way to Greenwich Village in New York City in January 1961.

In 1961, Robert Shelton’s praise-filled New York Times article about Dylan’s opening act in a club significantly contributed to him securing a recording contract with Columbia Records. This was particularly noteworthy because many other folk artists were signed to smaller record labels at that time.

Initially, Bob Dylan’s first album with Columbia Records (released in 1962) was unsuccessful. But it was his second album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963), which included the popular track “Blowin’ in the Wind,” that catapulted him to a new degree of popularity.

Dylan’s songwriting was particularly distinctive within the 1960s folk music movement. As Gray points out, many other artists at that time didn’t compose songs. Instead, they believed that the aim should be to return as closely as possible to the original, untouched versions of Irish, English, or Scottish folk tunes.

Joan Baez, who was romantically linked with Dylan, provided assistance by inviting him for performances during her shows and recording covers of his tunes.

What A Complete Unknown Gets Right and Wrong About Bob Dylan

Did Dylan really show up to Woody Guthrie’s hospital room and play for him?

Woody Guthrie, a renowned folk artist, struggled with Huntington’s disease until his passing in 1967. As portrayed in the film, it is accurate that Dylan and Seeger frequently visited Guthrie during his hospital stays in the early ’60s. However, it’s uncertain if they spent a lot of time together in the hospital room on a regular basis.

In the early 1960s, Woody was often taken out of his hospital room to attend gatherings at friends’ homes, where people would sing for him. This is believed to be where Dylan and Seeger might have interacted with Guthrie. As Wald points out, this could well be the time when all three were together.

Did Pete Seeger mentor Dylan?

In the film, Dylan visits Guthrie’s hospital room to perform a tune for him, which leaves Seeger greatly admiring the young man’s musical skills, leading him to welcome Dylan into his family’s residence.

Although it didn’t transpire as such, Seeger significantly contributed to Dylan’s career by providing numerous performance chances for him.

In my perspective, I was utterly captivated when I first saw Bob Dylan grace the stage before a vast sea of spectators, an event that transpired during a Pete Seeger hootenanny. This remarkable gathering featured several promising young artists, among whom Dylan made his electrifying debut.

What A Complete Unknown Gets Right and Wrong About Bob Dylan

Was Johnny Cash really one of Dylan’s biggest fans?

In A Complete Unknown, Dylan gets fan letters from Cash.

It is true that the singer-songwriter was one of Dylan’s biggest supporters, and several of the lines in the movie come directly from their letters.

At crucial instances, Cash stood up for Dylan. Although Dylan’s debut album on Columbia Records didn’t sell well commercially initially, Cash, who was also signed to Columbia Records, advocated for it, preventing the label from dropping Dylan, as suggested by Gray.

Johnny Cash adapted numerous Bob Dylan tunes, including “Understand Your Man,” a popular song from the 1960s that drew inspiration from Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (often titled “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”).

As stated by Wald, during the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, and his future spouse June Carter shared a hotel room, spending hours jumping on the beds – such was the level of their camaraderie and enjoyment in each other’s company.

How did the political movements of the 1960s influence Dylan’s music?

In simpler terms, Dylan didn’t shy away from expressing political views, and several of his initial songs were deeply impacted by the civil rights era, such as the line “How many paths must a person tread before being recognized as an adult?” from “Blowin’ in the Wind.

Wald clarifies that he was singing with and for a young, predominantly white crowd who were attempting to understand their role within the large-scale movement happening at the time.

Gray highlights that the song “Only a Pawn in Their Game” was considered revolutionary back then, as it posited that those in power were manipulating less privileged whites into believing that it was impoverished blacks who posed a threat to them.

On the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, you’ll find his partner, Suze Rotolo. She was a dedicated activist for civil rights, offering her services in the New York branch of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The film depicts her educating Dylan about CORE, which was one of the key civil rights organizations during that era.

What A Complete Unknown Gets Right and Wrong About Bob Dylan

Did a guitarist really play the organ in “Like a Rolling Stone”?

Indeed, just like the film portrays, I too found myself present at the studio to strum the guitar strings. However, it turned out that there was another guitarist on hand already.

In a straightforward manner, he encountered a keyboard on stage, experimented with it, ultimately creating the memorable organ riff in the song.

“From then on, he was a keyboard player,” Wald says.

Did Dylan really get booed at the Newport Folk Festival?

The film reaches its peak at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan is met with jeers from the crowd when he switches to an electric guitar instead of sticking with his acoustic one.

In actuality, following an uneasy performance, he was met with jeers from the crowd. As Wald pointed out, the band wasn’t properly prepared, leading to extended pauses between songs while they decided what to do next. According to Wald, it was challenging to determine whether the booing audience members were upset because his performance was electric or because he had abruptly left the stage, as both possibilities are plausible.

So why was going electric so controversial?

From my perspective as a music enthusiast, I’d say that the Newport Folk Festival was all about celebrating folk music in its truest form. They viewed electric music as something impure, commercialized – a sellout, if you will. In their eyes, it was synonymous with low-quality pop, rock, and roll tunes.

However, it was a small group who opposed Dylan’s shift towards electric music. The majority of the audience was eagerly prepared for this change.

According to Wald, Dylan gained unprecedented popularity when he switched to electric music, and the boos he received were woven into his legacy since they contradicted claims that he was compromising his integrity by transitioning into mainstream pop music.

2024-12-25 17:07