Over winter break, I went to the movie theaters more times than I can count (that’s really all there was to do in Orlando). But, one of the trips I made to the theater was with my mom to see the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.
I didn’t have any high hopes going into it, but I was excited to see what the cast had to offer, especially Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. As a kid, I often heard folk artists like Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Simon and Garfunkel, and more through my mom’s favorite radio stations and what was being shuffled on her iPod.
Since then—about 10 years ago—I haven’t really listened to folk music unless it came on when I was going through other people’s playlists on Spotify. But after walking out of A Complete Unknown, I listened to Bob Dylan the entire drive home.
And, I’ve been listening to folk music since!
I don’t want this article to serve as a movie review, but I’m having trouble escaping how much A Complete Unknown has influenced my music taste over the past two months.
When I’m in the shower, I’m singing Baez’s “There But a Fortune.” When I’m cooking, it’s Peter, Paul and Mary singing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”
But of course, the one song that’s been stuck in my head since Chalamet and Monica Barbaro performed it on the big screen, is “It Ain’t Me Babe.” The actors’ version, as well as Baez’s and Dylan’s, is the perfect song to listen to when you’re in a bad, sad, or happy mood, or just walking to class with no thoughts in your head.
What is it about folk music?
Folk music brings me back to my childhood. It connects me with memories that were once lost: my mom and I singing in her Volkswagen EOS with the top down on a sunny Florida day. Or my sisters and I helping my mom cook dinner after we got back from gymnastics practice.
What I enjoy most about folk music is that every word holds meaning. When you truly listen to the lyrics, you realize that music itself is more than just background noise, it’s about understanding the significance of the words themselves that bring the song to life.
Who knew that watching a biopic about someone else’s life would help reconnect me with my childhood self?
A Complete Unknown is still playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV!
And trust me, it’s worth a watch.
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