'Dylan Goes Electric!' is the book behind Timothée Chalamet's new Bob Dylan biopic

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

The Newport Folk Festival is an annual music festival that's been hosted in Newport, Rhode Island, since the 1950s. Bob Dylan, who was considered folk music's then-reigning king, performed at the festival in 1965 where he made the controversial decision to play the electric guitar. This is the focus of Elijah Wald's 2015 book, Dylan Goes Electric! which has been adapted into the film A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. In today's episode, we revisit a 2015 conversation between Wald and NPR's Arun Rath where they talk about Dylan's decision to play that guitar, electrifying the folk faithful.

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Transcript

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1:25.9	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong.
1:29.2	I've been inundated by Timothy Shalamey's press store for his new movie, A Complete Unknown.
1:34.7	But if you haven't, I can fill you in. It's a biopic of Bob Dylan.
	...

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