BY ROGER WATSON
I came to Bob Dylan relatively late. It wasn’t until university that a girlfriend introduced me to Nashville Skyline (1969)—his most country-influenced album, and my belated introduction to Johnny Cash, who duets with Dylan on Girl from the North Country. I wasn’t exactly hooked, but I liked a few songs.
Everything changed the following year when I moved in with my cousin, ten years my senior, for the final year of my studies. That’s when I truly began my Dylan education—the curriculum being his full catalogue. Blood on the Tracks (1975) made a powerful impression on me, with its raw emotion and lyrical depth. Then came Street Legal in 1978, the year I graduated. Seeing him on the Street Legal tour, I still consider it Dylan at the height of his (electric) powers. Then came Slow Train Coming (1979) of which I only know the opening track Gotta serve somebody. Thereafter my interest in Dylan remained solely in his back catalogue.
I was lucky enough to see Dylan live on the Street Legal tour in 1978; by that point, I was hooked. The shockwaves from his shift to electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 had long since settled. That performance—his first electric set—famously drew boos from the folk faithful, and the following year in Manchester he was called “Judas” by a heckler.
A Complete Unknown (2024) covers the years from his arrival in New York to the notorious Newport Folk Festival. It is more of a glimpse than a biopic. Dylan aficionados point to several inaccuracies and anachronisms as has Dylan himself. Given Dylan was lukewarm rather than outraged, it is probably a fair representation, at least of his musical journey and the influencers around him.
Musically, the film is a triumph mainly because Timothée Chalamet who plays Bob Dylan is a better singer than the character he portrays. Dylan’s voice splits a crowd – and my household. I am taken by his nasal, disdainful, higher notes; my wife loathes them. Chalamet nails Dylan in the lower registers but is less grating further up the scale.
I know a few chords and it appears Chalamet is accompanying himself on guitar rather well. My suspicions were raised, however, at one point during Dylan’s first performance at Newport when Chalamet’s hands were at the microphone before the final chords of the song had been strummed. But this was obviously poor continuity (and will probably feature on many a YouTube dedicated to such bloomers) as Chalamet spent five years rehearsing and learning harmonica. He performs all the songs live.
Dylan arrives in New York in 1961 and heads to the hospital where Woodie Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) is dying from Huntington’s disease. He plays him a song during which legendary folk singer Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) walks in. Both are impressed and Dylan’s career begins with some open mic nights, progressing to support spots and finally to legendary status in only three years with a best-selling album and packed venues.
Naturally, he shuns stardom and, while Chalamet is not a dead ringer for Dylan, with shades on, head down and the signature mop of curly hair, he could easily be mistaken for him. He moves in with girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) and they have a stormy relationship based on him being tight-lipped about his background and his flirting with Joan Baez, played by the beautiful Monica Barbaro. I also saw Joan Baez, not at the height of her powers, in 1978 and could understand neither the attraction to her music nor to her. Barbaro also sings and plays guitar in the film and performs all her own songs.
Johnny Cash, adequately portrayed by Boyd Holbrook, becomes a Dylan fan. They strike up a correspondence, finally meeting at a Newport Folk Festival. According to the film, under the influence of an alcohol fuelled Cash, Dylan is convinced to go electric for his set in 1965.
It is interesting Cash should appear so prominently in this film. Dylan was mentioned but did not appear in Walk the Line (2005) which explored the music, marriages and misdemeanours of Johnny Cash, brilliantly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. Parallels will be drawn. The characters are portrayed well in both films but musically, for authenticity, A Complete Unknown offers more.
The title of the film is taken from a line in one of Dylan’s famous songs Like a Rolling Stone. The song features in the film, being recorded in a studio where we are introduced to keyboard player Al Kooper (Charlie Tahan). Kooper is in the studio looking for work when he gets the chance to sit at a vacant electric organ as Dylan and his band are counting down to play Like a Rolling Stone one more time.
Kooper provides the powerful organ chords which characterise the opening to the song. We are led to believe Dylan was unaware the accompaniment was to be played, but he looks round and smiles; the rest is musical history. I have no idea if that is what happened or not, but I would like to believe it was.
Roger Watson is a Registered Nurse and Editor-in-Chief of Nurse Education in Practice.