On December 25, 2024, while some people gathered to celebrate Christmas, others flocked to their local movie theatres and immersed themselves in the world of Bob Dylan in the biopic “A Complete Unknown.”

Sliced right out of the ‘60s, this film encapsulates both the whimsy and treacherousness of Dylan’s musical genius. Timothée Chalamet rose to the challenge of his star role as the musician by recording and expertly executing remakes of some of Dylan’s most famous songs of the era. Each song was recorded live, and is integral to the full experience of the film. Despite a few historical inaccuracies, the soundtrack promotes reverence for the original musicians and does a thorough job of telling the story of Bob Dylan during the time the film is set.

Here are five of the most meaningful songs on the soundtrack and how they add to the development of Dylan’s story throughout the film:

1. Song to Woody
The first song Chalamet plays live in the film, “Song to Woody” sets a high bar for the rest of the soundtrack. The track’s simple acoustics and Chalamet’s shy vocals convey the duality of Dylan’s undiscovered nature: he has not yet been discovered by the music industry, nor has he fully discovered himself as a musician. While he sits across from his idols Woody Guthrie, played by Scoot McNairy, and Pete Seeger, played by Edward Norton, in Guthrie’s hospital room, the audience glimpses the rawness of Dylan’s uncertain, yet determined musical spirit.

2. The Times They Are A-Changin
In the movie, Chalamet performs this hit on stage as the second of three performances at Newport Folk Festival. The year is 1964 and Monica Barbaro, portraying Joan Baez, and Boyd Holbrook, portraying Johnny Cash, have just performed their own enthralling renditions of their character’s music. Yet, when Chalamet takes the stage, the air thickens with distinct anticipation. The hoots and whistles from the audience join harmoniously with the lingering notes from Chalamet’s guitar. The adoring crowd even sings along to the chorus, not realizing that track warns of his much less folksy future. “For the line it is drawn, the curse it is cast / The slow one now will later be fast,” Dylan promises in his lyrics, a promise he upholds when he begins experimenting with electric guitar less than 30 minutes later. The times did, in fact, begin a-changin.

3. Highway 61 Revisited
Chalamet playfully and defiantly recorded “Highway 61 Revisited,” in a scene marking his genre shift from folk to rock. Chalamet wears dark sunglasses inside the studio and plays a red electric guitar. He blows shrilly on a whistle he snagged from a roadside merchant on a somber New York night, completing his new costume. In reality, it was Al Cooper who put the whistle around Dylan’s neck while recording “Highway 61 Revisited” in 1965. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cooper says he told Dylan, “Play this instead of the harmonica.” No matter how it happened, the symbolic replacement of Dylan’s most iconic instrument is what makes this track his ultimate rejection of folk in favor of electric.

4. It Ain’t Me Babe
In his third and final appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, Chalamet and Barbaro harmonize to “It Ain’t Me Babe” before a jubilant, pastel-clad crowd of onlookers. Despite the track’s simplistic beauty and the return of Chalamet’s harmonica, the performance is exactly that, a performance. Chalamet and Barbaro’s strained chemistry is apparent in an argument that nearly takes place live on the stage. Chalamet portrays a Dylan who drips with disdain for the folk music he feels forced to play. Although Dylan and Baez never actually sang together at Newport in ‘65, having the actors perform “It Ain’t Me Babe” serves as an artistic choice that depicts the faux nature of the musician’s relationship at that point,pretending for the sake of the crowd. This song holds a double meaning as Chalamet once again warns the Newport Folk Festival of his disloyalty to their music. “No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe / It ain’t me you’re looking for,” Chalamet strums delicately and drawls in harmony with Barbaro.

5. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
The film reaches its climax during Chalamet’s unpopular electric set at the Newport Folk Festival. His performance of “Maggie’s Farm” and “It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” incited a frenzy of boos, jeers, and looks of disgust from both the crowd and festival board members. True to history, Chalamet ends the concert just as Dylan did, with an acoustic peace offering to the festival including his songs “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” Although this final encore may seem like an attempt to restore his reputation, Dylan’s choice to play this song in lieu of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” was a final act of solemn defiance. In booming honesty and heartfelt harmonica, Chalamet demonstrates that Dylan will not cave to pressure or be confined to any one genre. As Chalamet’s acting elicits, Dylan left the 1965 festival a champion of both rock and folk and a creative genius with an evolutionary musical career ahead of him.

Overall, “A Complete Unknown” combines an evocative soundtrack with high-caliber acting to vividly portray Bob Dylan as a clever and evolving artist. The film and its music depict the turmoil and creativity of the New York music scene of the early 1960s. With an impressive musical and acting performance that ought to get younger generations interested in Bob Dylan’s music, Chalamet has raised the standard for biopic acting moving forward.