Neil Young Once Threw Bob Dylan Off His Bus: ‘Didn’t Recognize Him’

Neil Young buried a very interesting tidbit about Bob Dylan in his glowing — but concise — review of the biopic A Complete Unknown.

“I love Bob Dylan and his music. Always have,” Young, 79, wrote in a post on his website, Neil Young Archives, on Monday, January 13. “He’s a great artist.”

The next part, however, raised several questions.

“Once he was on my bus and I didn’t recognize him and threw him off but that’s another story,” Young wrote before getting back to the business at hand. “This movie is a great tribute to his life and music. I think if you love Bob’s music you should see this great movie. I loved it.”

While it’s lovely to know that Young appreciated A Complete Unknown, the streets demand answers about what happened on this tour bus. When was this? What was Dylan wearing that made him so unrecognizable? How did he respond when Young unceremoniously threw him off the bus? Is this why they didn’t sing together for 25 years? Inquiring music fans need to know!

In any case, the tour bus moment was not depicted in A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothée Chalamet as a young Dylan and covers the period in Dylan’s career from his arrival in New York City to his infamous “going electric” performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

While Dylan, 83, was not officially involved in the film, director James Mangold revealed that the iconic musician gave him notes on the script. “I’ve spent several wonderfully charming days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him,” Mangold, 61, said during a 2023 episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me. He loves movies.”

Chalamet, meanwhile, hasn’t yet met Dylan, but the singer publicly praised his performance via X last month. “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” Dylan wrote. “Timothée Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”

In response, Chalamet, 29, reposted Dylan’s message, adding, “Floored. I am so grateful. Thank you Bob.”

The actor has been receiving tons of awards season praise for his role, including nominations from the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. This year’s Oscar nominations have been postponed because of the Los Angeles wildfires, but Chalamet is widely expected to land a nod there as well.