An Unfamiliar Figure Reveals a Humorous Anecdote About Bob Dylan’s Early 1960s Life

The upcoming 2024 biopic about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, omits a quirky yet amusing episode from the singer’s life during the 1960s, a period during which he solidified his reputation as one of the greatest songwriters in history. Notably, Dylan has earned accolades such as the Nobel Prize in Literature, primarily due to his influential lyrics. Over the years, various filmmakers have attempted to encapsulate the essence of Dylan’s life and music, but each perspective brings its own unique interpretation.

Directed and co-written by James Mangold, A Complete Unknown focuses on Dylan’s transformative years in the early 1960s. The film has received acclaim for its acting, cinematography, and storytelling. Nevertheless, it diverges from actual events in various ways, raising questions about historical accuracy. Despite some alterations being minor, one particularly humorous anecdote from Dylan’s early career goes unaddressed, providing a lighthearted reflection on his artistic journey.

Newsweek’s Controversial Claim: Did Bob Dylan Buy “Blowin’ In The Wind”From A High School Student?

The 1963 Misreported Rumor Surrounding “Blowin’ In The Wind”

Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan singing on stage with another musician in A Complete Unknown trailer

A particularly bizarre story from 1963 that A Complete Unknown overlooks involves a claim made by Newsweek. The publication published an article that accurately pointed out several fabrications from Dylan, but it also propagated a rumor that he had bought the iconic song “Blowin’ in the Wind”from a high school student. Despite denials from both parties involved, the rumor gained traction, offering a dash of comedy to Dylan’s otherwise serious narrative.

This bizarre rumor escalated mainly due to the plausible coincidence that both Dylan and the student attended similar folk music circles. Dylan frequently visited folk legend Woody Guthrie at Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, where the student, Lorre Wyatt, volunteered. Although plagiarism is typically a serious issue, the absurdity and the eventual debunking of Wyatt’s claim categorize this tale as a notable example of how truth can sometimes mirror fiction in unexpected ways.

Uncovering the Truth: Lorre Wyatt’s Confession

How Wyatt’s Lie Spiraled into a Plagiarism Scandal

Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) is guided through a crowded room by his manager, Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler), while wearing sunglasses and looking down.

By May 1974, Lorre Wyatt opened up about how this misstatement escalated quickly, transforming into Dylan’s first significant plagiarism case as noted by Snopes. His journey resembles a plot from a musical like Dear Evan Hansen. Dylan originally composed “Blowin’ in the Wind”in April 1962 and published it in Broadside #6 that May, later recording it in July. Wyatt came across the song in a folk magazine and attempted to create his own version, leading to significant misunderstandings.

During a meeting of the Millburnaires singing group, Wyatt opted to perform Dylan’s original rather than his own lyrics to impress his peers. He insisted they keep the song’s authorship a secret. However, when the truth surfaced, Wyatt concocted a story claiming he had sold the song for $1,000, which compounded the confusion as classmates and teachers fully recalled the performance that contradicted his fabricated accounts.

Compounding the joke, other group members publicly asserted Wyatt had created the song, highlighting that they performed it before Dylan had secured copyright. This chain of events illustrates how a minor falsehood can snowball into a considerable dilemma, leaving a legacy that lingers for decades.

The Persistent Plagiarism Accusations Surrounding Bob Dylan

Dylan’s Complex Relationship with Plagiarism

While the humorous “Blowin’ in the Wind”tale can often be dismissed, the frequency of genuine plagiarism allegations against Bob Dylan is far more serious. Over the decades, he has faced claims about misappropriating creative works, with new accusations arising intermittently. Some allegations, like the absurd “Blowin’ in the Wind” scandal, lack any basis, but others, such as similarities found in his album Love & Theft to Dr. Junichi Saga’s Confessions of a Yakuza and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, raise pertinent questions (as noted by The Guardian).

Moreover, critiques surround his visual art, with several of his paintings reportedly echoing works by acclaimed photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Dmitri Kessel. In the book The Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob, authors claim that Dylan’s autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, includes echoed phrases from multiple sources. One of the latest controversies revolves around Dylan’s Nobel Prize lecture, which allegedly borrowed heavily from SparkNotes for Moby Dick (as reported by The New York Times).

The persistence of these charges can be partially attributed to the folk tradition’s roots, which often embrace influences and borrowings from other works without explicit attribution. For instance, “Blowin’ in the Wind” adopts the melody from the folk spiritual “No More Auction Block For Me.” Within the folk genre, it is common to integrate inspirations from others’ lyrics into new pieces, thus granting Bob Dylan a certain degree of flexibility in his artistry.

However, such leniency diminishes when extended to non-folk works. Ultimately, determining whether Dylan crossed the line into plagiarism remains heatedly debated; each individual must navigate this contentious issue according to their own judgment. This could explain why A Complete Unknown wisely omitted discussions of plagiarism, even in light of the fabricated “Blowin’ in the Wind” story, preventing the revival of a complex, unresolved discourse.

Dylan himself addressed these accusations, stating, “Oh, yeah, in folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. That certainly is true. It’s true for everybody but me. I mean, everyone else can do it but not me. There are different rules for me… Wussies and p*ssies complain about that stuff. It’s an old thing – it’s part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me, Judas, the most hated name in human history!”(as sourced from The Rolling Stone).

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