This may be one of the best movies of 2024, almost entirely for the soundtrack. I honestly forgot Timothée Chalamet was playing Bob Dylan and was semi-jumpscared by him. Chalamet did a great job. I was impressed by how similar he sounded to Bob Dylan. I didn’t even know Chalamet could sing, so seeing it for the first time and the fact he sounded so good was a nice surprise. He has a voice that fits folk music really well.

He not only sang but also learned harmonica and guitar for his role, and honestly, the live playing made it 100 times better. Monica Barbaro was incredible as Joan Baez, and her voice was out of this world. She encapsulated the character and everytime she sang it was always so beautiful. I was impressed by everyone’s talent and how much they could really encapsulate the character, something I focus on throughout the article. Comparing the songs to the original shows how perfect the casting decision was.

“House of the Rising Sun”- Monica Barbaro 

You are introduced to Baez through the song “House of the Rising Sun,” which is  a famous Appalachian folk song that’s origins is unknown, though the most famous iteration is by The Animals in 1964 granting the song more recognition. The version she sings in the movie is significantly shorter than The Animals version. 

I think Barbaro did a phenomenal job. She added an insane amount of anguish to the song. She has one of those voices where you kind of want her to stop singing because it’s just so beautiful you’re going to start crying. I love Barbaro’s cover of the song, and she sounds somewhat similar to the original version by Baez. 

One reason it’s different is that Barbaro’s version is shorter and the movie version is slower and the instrumental cuts out at the end. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing and the differences work with what the movie was portraying. Through this song is where you meet Baez so it being a slower more vocally straining version shows how talented she is. 

Both women sound astounding with impressive vocals that overshadow the instrumentals.

“It Ain’t me Babe”- Monica Barbaro and Timothée Chalamet

“It Ain’t me Babe” is an original from Dylan. His biographers generally agree that the song owes its inspiration to his former girlfriend Suze Rotolo. In the documentary, Rotolo was granted the name Sylvie Russo and was played by Elle Fanning. 

I absolutely love this song, and I think Barbaro and Chalamet did an exceptional job and had great tension during the song. Both their voices flow together throughout, and they have great chemistry. 

My favorite lyric is, “Go away from my window/ Leave at your own chosen speed/ I’m not the one you want, babe/ I’m not the one you need.”  This is the beginning part of the song. The first three lyrics are sung by her, and then on the last lyric he comes in. Here you get to really see how beautifully their voices compliment each other.

This song is my favorite song sung by both Dylan and Baez. It’s also one of my overall favorite songs, and it definitely held up in the film. In the movie, the song sounds a lot more like teasing, but I find it works very well. The song is also a lot slower in the movie than in the original version sung by Dylan and Baez. I sort of like the slower pacing better because it leaves more time to appreciate the lyrics and works better with the song.

“Folsom Prison Blues”- Boyd Holbrook 

Boyd Holbrook did a phenomenal job playing Johnny Cash and really encapsulated his mannerisms especially when singing. Holbrook also replicated his voice. 

Cash wrote “Folsom Prison Blues” while stationed in Germany with the Air Force in 1952. The song was heavily influenced by “Crescent City Blues,” originally recorded by Beverly Mahr and written by her husband Gordon Jenkins.

The Cash and Holbrook versions sound almost identical, at least in my opinion.  Holbrook has a freakishly similar voice to Cash. They both have that swanky outlaw theme to them that makes you feel like you’re in the Old West. 

Solidifying Cash’s outlaw image as his career took off in the late ‘50s, the influential lyric of this song says: “I bet there’re rich folks eatin’ in a fancy dining car/ They’re probably drinkin’ coffee and smoking big cigars/ Well, I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free.”Therefore I’m happy that they included it in the movie.

All the music was incredibly good, and I highly recommend seeing this movie especially for the soundtrack. Along with this, I recommend listening to the original versions of the songs. A lot of them have been cemented as classics in America or just songs your older people swear “changed the world.” 

Either way, all of the covered versions are amazing and so are the originals.