You’ve probably seen the posters by now. Timothée Chalamet, looking scruffy and poetic, hunched over an acoustic guitar. The movie title is everywhere: A Complete Unknown. Naturally, people are flooding search bars trying to find the Bob Dylan a complete unknown song.
But here is the thing. If you go looking for a track with that exact title on Spotify, you’re going to come up empty-handed. There isn't one.
The phrase "a complete unknown" is actually one of the most famous lyrics in music history, but it belongs to a song you definitely know by another name. It’s the emotional gut-punch at the center of "Like a Rolling Stone."
The Mystery of the Missing Title
It’s kinda funny how marketing works. Searchlight Pictures chose A Complete Unknown as the title for the 2024 biopic because it perfectly captures Dylan’s transition from a Minnesota drifter to a global enigma. When Dylan snarled those words into a microphone in 1965, he wasn't just singing about a "Miss Lonely" who had fallen from grace. He was describing himself.
He was the "complete unknown" who had just blown up the rules of folk music.
In "Like a Rolling Stone," the line appears in the chorus:
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?
If you are searching for the Bob Dylan a complete unknown song because you heard a specific version in the movie trailer, you are likely looking for Chalamet’s vocal cover of "Like a Rolling Stone."
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James Mangold, the director, didn’t just want a soundtrack of old Dylan records. He had Chalamet record about 40 songs live. Honestly, it’s a bold move. Most biopics rely on lip-syncing to the original artist’s "God-voice," but here, the "complete unknown" song is reimagined through Chalamet’s own gravelly, mid-60s imitation.
Why "Like a Rolling Stone" Changed Everything
Before this song, pop music was mostly about "I love you" or "You broke my heart." Then Dylan dropped a six-minute-long, organ-heavy epic that felt like a trial.
He wrote it after returning from a grueling UK tour. He was exhausted. He almost quit music entirely. He famously described the initial draft as a "long piece of vomit"—ten to twenty pages of raw, rhythmic venting. It wasn't even a song at first; it was just a way to get the bile out.
When it finally became a track on Highway 61 Revisited, it shattered the radio format. Stations didn't want to play six-minute songs. They literally didn't have the space. But the demand was so high that they had to give in.
The Soundtrack: What's Actually on It?
If you’re looking for the music from the movie, the official soundtrack is titled A Complete Unknown (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). It’s a mix of Dylan’s early acoustic stuff and the controversial electric turn at Newport.
The "song" people keep asking for is basically the centerpiece of the film's finale. Here are some of the key tracks that define that "unknown" era in the movie:
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- "Song to Woody": This is what Dylan plays for a dying Woody Guthrie in the hospital. It’s the sound of a kid trying to find his own voice by mimicking his hero.
- "Girl from the North Country": A tender, finger-picked melody that shows the softer side of the "unknown" traveler.
- "Maggie’s Farm": This is the one that caused the riot. When Chalamet-as-Dylan plugs in the Fender Stratocaster at Newport, this is the loud, distorted middle finger he gives to the folk purists.
- "Like a Rolling Stone": The source of the "complete unknown" lyric. In the context of the film, it’s the moment of total transformation.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Lyrics
There is a common misconception that "Like a Rolling Stone" is purely a mean-spirited attack on a high-society woman (often rumored to be Edie Sedgwick or even Joan Baez).
While the lyrics are definitely biting—"Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"—most Dylan experts, like Greil Marcus, argue that the song is actually about liberation.
When you are a complete unknown, you have nothing left to lose.
There’s a certain freedom in being invisible. Dylan was being hounded by the press, by fans who treated him like a prophet, and by managers who wanted to own him. By singing about being "on your own," he was carving out a space where he didn't have to be anyone's hero. He was just a guy with no direction home.
Chalamet vs. Dylan: The Vocal Shift
If you’ve listened to the "Like a Rolling Stone" version from the movie, you’ll notice it’s not a carbon copy.
Chalamet spent months working with a vocal coach to get that specific "nasal-but-powerful" delivery Dylan had in 1965. It’s less about hitting the right notes and more about the attitude.
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In the 1965 original, Dylan sounds like he's laughing at you.
In the film version, it feels a bit more like a discovery.
It’s the sound of a young man realizing he’s just changed the world and he’s not sure if he likes the consequences yet.
How to Find the "Real" Song Today
If you want the definitive version of the Bob Dylan a complete unknown song, you should head straight to the 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited.
But don't stop there.
To really understand the "complete unknown" vibe, you should check out the live version from the 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall (often called the "Royal Albert Hall" concert on bootlegs). That’s the night someone in the crowd yelled "Judas!" at him.
Dylan’s response? "I don't believe you... you're a liar!"
Then he told the band to "play it fucking loud" and launched into "Like a Rolling Stone." That performance is the peak of the "unknown" becoming a legend.
Your Next Steps for Exploring the "Complete Unknown" era:
- Listen to the Newport '65 set: Find the live recording of "Maggie's Farm" from the Newport Folk Festival. This is the moment portrayed in the movie where the "unknown" folkie becomes a rock star.
- Watch 'Dont Look Back': This 1967 documentary by D.A. Pennebaker captures the real Dylan during the exact months he was writing the "complete unknown" lyrics. It’s raw, black-and-white, and essential viewing.
- Compare the vocals: Listen to Timothée Chalamet’s "Like a Rolling Stone" on the official soundtrack and then immediately play Dylan’s 1965 studio version. Notice how the phrasing on "complete unknown" differs between the two.
The "complete unknown" isn't just a song title—it’s the DNA of Bob Dylan’s entire career. He’s spent the last sixty years trying to stay that way.