On January 25, 2025, Timothee Chalamet entered into the rare category of Saturday Night Live host, who has also served as the musical guest. But, for those who were expecting the actor to perform famous Bob Dylan songs such as "Like a Rolling Stone" —which Chalamet recreated in the biopic A Complete Unknown— he did something nobody saw coming.
Rather than playing a few of Dylan's greatest hits as a kind of advertisement for his heavily Oscar-nominated movie, Timothee Chalamet busted out some Bob Dylan deep-cuts. And on top of that, he didn't even bother trying to do his impressive Dylan impersonation from Complete Unknown. For these performances, Chalamet sang in his own voice. Here's a quick guide to three-ish Bob Dylan songs he performed.
"Outlaw Blues"
Chalamet's first Dylan selection "Outlaw Blues," is a 1965 track taken from the album Bringing It All Back Home. Chronologically, this album overlaps with the timeline of A Complete Unknown, as it also includes songs like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Maggie's Farm." But, "Outlaw Blues" isn't as well known as those tracks, and despite its correct placement in the Dylan timeline, it's not in the movie. Why did Chalamet start with this song? Well, according to him, "You might not know the Bob Dylan songs I’m performing, but they’re my personal favorites."
"Three Angels"
Chalamet created a kind of melody with "Outlaw Blues," and fused it with "Three Angels," a song from the 1970 Bob Dylan album New Morning. This puts the song well beyond the time frame of A Complete Unknown, demonstrating that Chalamet's Dylan fandom is apparently legit. (
Over on Reddit, Bob Dylan fans are largely praising Chalamet for this selection. And, most are heaping praise on him for not trying to emulate what he did in the movie. This, more than anything is probably why he chose these songs. Anything else would have looked like a stunt.
"Tomorrow is a Long Time"
The last Bob Dylan song Timothee Chalamet performed on SNL was the slightly more well-known track "Tomorrow is a Long Time."
While released in 1971 on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, this song was recorded twice; once in 1962 as a demo, and again, live in 1963 during a concert at Town Hall in New York. So, despite the 1971 release date, the origins of the song do overlap with the younger Dylan that Chalamet played in A Complete Unknown. But, because he didn't try to do the Dylan voice on SNL, this performance didn't scan as a deleted scene or anything. Instead, Chalamet gave us his tribute to Dylan, separate and apart from his performance as Dylan. These versions were designed to exist in 2025, not the 1960s or 1970s.
Are these the greatest versions of these songs ever? Maybe not. But in reminding the world of these deep cuts, Chalamet has brought attention to some great Dylan moments, and at least one full album, New Morning, that we could all stand to listen to again.
A Complete Unknown is still in theaters. No streaming date has been announced yet. SNL streams on Peacock.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/fZKJnv4
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