Cover Story: How Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” Idealizes Bob Dylan and Joan Baez’s Relationship
“A Complete Unknown” immerses audiences in all things Bob Dylan — but as the singer’s story shines in the film, Joan Baez’s perspective fades from focus due to subtle changes from the original live version in Chalamet and Barbaro’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” rendition.
Written by Rachel Yost
Illustrated by Luke Rathbun
Starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, the recent Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown,” not only offers a fresh interpretation of the artist’s life story, but also reveals details of Dylan’s complicated relationship dynamics. The movie delves into Dylan’s connections with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, and Suze Rotolo (known as Sylvie Russo in the film) with great detail, ultimately exposing his multi-faceted character. However, out of all the relationships depicted in the film, Dylan’s relationship with Joan Baez shapes the artist’s life in a distinct manner.
Baez, a celebrated folk singer-songwriter, gifted Dylan an abundance of inspiration and friendship, which eventually developed into romance. While the film shows Dylan and Baez’s interactions on and off-stage, “A Complete Unknown” ultimately idealizes the pair’s illicit affair, specifically with the creative differences between the original songs and the film’s renditions. While the movie includes many different covers from Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro, the performance that best illustrates the film’s idealization of the singers’ relationship is Chalamet and Barbaro’s version of “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”
Initially, the most striking aspect of the film's cover of “It Ain’t Me, Babe” is the opening lyrics. Barbaro soulfully recites the beginning of the first verse as she strums the guitar unaccompanied: “Go away from my window / Leave at your own chosen speed / I'm not the one you want, babe.” As the lyric “I’m not the one you need” approaches, Chalamet joins Barbaro in a higher pitch, both vocally and instrumentally. While Chalamet’s voice does create a notable presence due to its uniquely Dylan-esque sound, Barbaro’s vocals are still audible, laying a smooth foundation to accompany Chalamet’s harmony. Her voice leads, while Chalamet’s adapts to it.
However, when examining the original duet from 1964, this is not the case. In this version, Dylan’s distinctive tone overtakes nearly all other elements of the song, including Baez’s voice. Despite their simultaneous start, Baez eventually fades into the background, layered beneath the strumming of Dylan’s guitar. As the verses build, her voice becomes more pronounced, which eventually creates a graceful dichotomy between Dylan’s upper register and her deeper pitch. Though the contrast between who leads each given version may seem irrelevant, this subtle difference showcases the creative liberties “A Complete Unknown” took to romanticize the pair’s interactions. The original version is also more succinct than the version the film includes, further idealizing and dramatizing this duet.
“A Complete Unknown”’s rendition of “It Ain’t Me, Babe” stands as one way the film portrays Baez in an antagonistic manner while also failing to attribute an appropriate amount of credit to her name. In the film, Baez’s character serves as a landmark of success in order to demonstrate Dylan eventually surpassing her fame. Before even knowing of Dylan’s existence, Baez had established an impressive reputation. Her astounding vocals, songwriting abilities, and passion for civil rights earned her coveted respect in the world of folk music. The film focuses on utilizing Baez as a romantic presence in Dylan’s life, and while that holds some truth, her influence musically had much more of an impact on Dylan. The film diminishes Baez’s prowess and skill, while also carrying on the stereotype of women only being important in a romantic role.
The film presents Rotolo in a similar light. Like Baez, she was an extremely active and eminent voice in the fight for civil rights, which is something Dylan was notably not as passionate about. “A Complete Unknown” does not recognize this aspect of Rotolo’s character nearly as much as she is recognized as a romantic interest that Dylan eventually leaves behind. Rotolo and Baez most definitely have unique qualities within each of their storylines, but the film’s promotion of Dylan at the expense of discounting these two women is blatantly obvious. Despite these women excelling in many areas that Dylan did not, the film presents him as overwhelmingly more successful, even though Rotolo and Baez were also extremely achieved musically and otherwise. While the biopic is centered around Dylan’s transition from folk to electric, “A Complete Unknown” uses Baez especially as less of an inspiration to Dylan and more of a fading presence in his story, dismissing Baez’s actual impact on Dylan’s life. Baez’s storyline in the film lacks the spotlight she’s given in the movie’s version of “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” In fact, the film’s incorporation of her character is more akin to her part in the original version of the song: overshadowed and understated.
The divergence from the original version that allows Barbaro to sing the first lines solo ultimately reads as an attempt from the filmmakers to mask their general dismissal of Baez’s perspective. In addition to this dismissal of credit, the film also heavily utilizes Baez’s character as a way to divide the two main love interests of the film. The affair between Dylan and Baez is a consistent plot point throughout “A Complete Unknown.” It is notably alluded to, on multiple occasions, being the reason for Dylan and Rotolo’s split in the film. Romantic chemistry riddles the film’s version of “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” From the cheeky glances to the close proximity of Barbaro and Chalamet, this scene clearly intends to demonstrate a divide building between Rotolo and Dylan. Baez and Dylan’s flirtatious mannerisms juxtapose the song’s rejecting lyrics, which contributes to defining how Dylan’s relationship with Baez differs from his connection with Rotolo. It seems as though Dylan is directly telling Rotolo that he is not the one for her, and in fact, it may be Baez instead.
In contrast, the original version conveys less romance during the actual singing, but more so prior to the song’s beginning. Baez drapes Dylan’s guitar over him, and while Dylan places the capo on the strings, they share a brief yet genuine conversation. Their interaction initially reads as coy, but as the majority of the performance is significantly less intimate, the performance creates a generally platonic impression. The notable difference between how the film incorporates romance into “It Ain’t Me, Babe” and its role originally in the 1964 live version further exemplifies the film’s exaggeration of Baez’s part in Dylan and Russo’s split.
According to an article by Biography, Baez described her relationship with Dylan as “totally demoralizing.” Their romantic connection was short-lived, but despite this, it was still quite heart-breaking for Baez. The film reveals the highlights of their relationship and the musical collaboration, yet notably does not allude to any sour ending for the two. Seeing Dylan’s rise to fame did not lead to Baez’s disappointed feelings towards him, but more so his reaction to this fame. Baez recalled thinking that “his fame happened so fast, and it was so huge, that I kind of got lost in the shuffle.” Dylan’s rapid uprising also led to his inclination towards more pop-driven songs rather than the protest anthems Baez was inspiring him to write, which likely has something to do with the characterization of their relationship as “demoralizing.” Baez cared immensely for the true intention behind these songs and the power of protest music, while Dylan seemed to follow success over activism. Their different approaches to fame became a crucial difference that ultimately caused cracks in their relationship.
The film’s version of “It Ain’t Me, Babe” is a work of highly elevated talent. The rich sound quality combined with the seamless blend of Chalamet and Barbaro’s voices should not go unrecognized. That being said, the scene that this performance exists within shapes a hyperbolic version of the relationship between Baez and Dylan. By exemplifying the romantic chemistry between the two during this cover, the film characterizes Baez as more of a love interest for Dylan rather than a musical partner. In doing so, this version of “It Ain’t Me, Babe” acts as a vehicle for their relationship to be misconstrued. Despite the film’s dismissal of her, Baez is still an extremely accomplished and influential artist. Her work has made an impact spanning many generations, and her legacy is so much more than just another one of Dylan’s past affairs.