The Times They Were A-Changin’: Joan Osborne On Bob Dylan & ‘A Complete Unknown’ (Guest Post)

By Joan Osborne
Here’s my take on “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic out now:
I am happy “A Complete Unknown” exists, even though all biopics of musicians I love are problematic for me, with the possible exception of “Ray.” Unless the filmmakers use the original recordings, as they mostly did in “Ray,” any actor trying to sing like the icon they are portraying will fall short of the magic no matter how well they do, and I think Timothée Chalamet does a wonderful job of approximating Dylan’s squirrelly, charismatic manner in the film. But only Dylan sings like Dylan, only Joan Baez has the exquisite voice of Joan Baez, and clearly no one in the known universe can portray Johnny Cash in all his monumental singularity. The Elvis biopic compensated admirably by focusing on people’s explosive responses to The King and on Elvis’ presumed mental and emotional state in performance, but still, nobody else sings like Elvis.
I also know there are a lot of historical inaccuracies in “A Complete Unknown,” (and I dutifully whispered the correct biographical details into my sister’s ear as they went by), but who can fault the filmmakers for doing their best to pack a huge, sprawling story into a multiplex-friendly time slot?
No, Pete Seeger wasn’t at Woody’s bedside when Dylan visited him, nor was Suze Rotolo (given a different name in the film) at Newport in ‘65 when Dylan went electric, but I’m not bothered by that. I could complain that the hundreds of nights playing gigs in the Village, the process of Dylan becoming who he was through trial and error and hard work, were not acknowledged and that it seems in the film as if he were born like Athena out of his own skull completely formed. As someone who knows about the years and years of effort that go into an ‘overnight success’, that was a disappointment.

Photo by Laura Crosta / Courtesy All Eyes Media
But I like that Suze Rotolo’s influence on Dylan, the political and artistic consciousness he absorbed from her, was given its due. And I love Ed Norton’s heartbreakingly earnest Pete Seeger, his subtle rendering of the thrill of witnessing Dylan’s genius unfold as those early songs were born, his quiet paternal grief as he watches Bob slip away from the folk scene into the wider world (was he getting intravenous infusions of Jimmy Stewart’s DNA into his bloodstream during the shoot?) That to me is the film’s great pleasure: to imagine yourself a fly on the wall at the moment this musical phenomenon detonates. If I let Norton’s Seeger be my guide, if I squint and suspend my disbelief, I’m happy to be led by the hand down a fantasy MacDougal Street for a couple of hours.
The main reason, though, that I’m happy about the film, that I’m glad it has at least one Oscar-bait performance and is doing well at the box office, is that it will likely lure a lot of folks into the Wonderful World of Real Bob Dylan. Sixty years on from the events of the movie, there are a lot of people who live in ignorance of this titan still in our midst, and of why music was so important then, and they will be all the better for knowing. Teen girls (or boys or genderqueers) who moon over Chalamet can swoon afresh over how beautiful and sexy and compelling the real young Dylan was as they listen to those lyrics or mine YouTube. Folks unfamiliar with the incredible lives and tireless activism of Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and of the ideals of the folk movement can educate themselves. People who love or hate the movie will dive into their Dylan albums or streams.
Personally, I’m going to use these quiet days at the turn of the year to go back and revisit some other Dylan material that’s out there, and if you want you can join me. My first stop will be “Chronicles,” Dylan’s own poetic memoir of his early years. Maybe next I’ll watch the Scorsese documentary “No Direction Home,” a longer and more faithful view of Dylan’s rise. “I’m Not There,” the Todd Haynes movie in which Dylan is played by six different actors including Cate Blanchett, is also in my queue, as is “Masked and Anonymous,” the deeply weird fiction film starring Dylan himself and featuring some musical performance footage which should not be missed by anyone who cares about art or beauty or depth. I’m not kidding.
If you have any other suggestions please pass them along to me, and please enjoy this time. I hope you are with people you love, or contentedly alone, and I hope you can rest and relax a bit on these short days and long nights.
Xxoo,
Joan
Joan Osborne is a New-York-City-based singer/songwriter. In 2017 she released the album Songs of Bob Dylan, which was followed by a tour and show of Dylan’s music. She has an upcoming Dylanology Live album and Dylanology tour slated for later this year.
