"A Complete Unknown"? But I've known him all my life! (Why I won't be watching the Bob Dylan biopic)

I don't plan on seeing the too-much-hyped Bob Dylan biopic, not because I don't appreciate Dylan, but because I do - he has been my touchstone and my inspiration for more than 50 years. And I've read at least a dozen Dylan bios, all highlighting different facets of this modern-day Picasso of music.

I watched a couple of the movie trailers, and to me this actor appears to be doing a parody or imitation of Dylan, the way a standup comic would do an impersonation of a famous actor. I guess you could enjoy it more if you were less emotionally-involved with the subject and the time period. My older brothers played guitar and sang during the folk boom of the '60s, so that particular time period really resonates with me. But I'd rather hear my brothers sing those dearly-familiar Dylan songs.

The first time I ever heard one, and I had no idea who actually wrote it, was when I was ten years old and my brother Walt sang "A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall". Even though I was only a kid, those hypnotic lyrics and the way the song built and built to such a tremendous climax is forever recorded in my brain. It had echoes of the ancient call-and-response ballad, Lord Randall, but at the same time it was completely original and fire-new. The fact that he sang it on the back porch of our cottage on Lake of Bays, with the loons crying and the waves lapping, made it even more memorable.

And how I miss hearing my brother Arthur, who died a couple of months after John Lennon, sing "When the Ship Comes In". It went straight to my heart. But then, other singers and artists always knew the value of his songs and were eager to sing and record them. The songs are accessible in a way Dylan isn't. Wasn't then and isn't now, and that is what makes him so compelling.

The hype around the movie (and oh, how sick I am of hearing people insist "you'll love it!"), which is inspiring so many drooling accolades that I am immediately suspicious of it, has sent me right back to the source, including this amazing, gut-wrenching live performance of "Hard Rain", infinitely more passionate and raw than the studio version. Recorded in 1963, which is right around the time I heard Walt sing it. It's a kind of impassioned howl, halfway between lonesome mountain-man and a moon-crazed coyote.

Listen to it.