A Bob Dylan cover featured in a biopic film of Ronald Reagan’s life is now available on streaming services.
The song was included on the closing credits of Reagan, a biopic about the 40th President of the United States. Dennis Quaid starred as the Republican President in the film, which released last year. Dylan‘s song, covered for the film and unavailable anywhere until now, was featured and has only just been released. It is believed the entire soundtrack will be available from tomorrow (August 29). The three-minute-long song marks Dylan’s newest release, with fans having waited upwards of a year to hear the song, which featured in the Sean McNamara-directed movie.
A soundtrack release of the film is available though did not include Don’t Fence Me In. The song, performed by Dylan, has split listeners. Some are thankful for new material from Dylan, while others were concerned by the inclusion of the track in a film dissecting the life of the former POTUS. Fans took to the r/BobDylan subreddit to share their thoughts, as well as the announcement of the song’s release.
One listener wrote: “Good track. Horrendous movie. It was like a Lifetime original channel movie with a guzzling Nancy Reagan as Ms Pac-Man during a truly bizarre fever dream sequence. David Byrne did a cover of this on an AIDS benefit disc in the late 80s/90s.”
Another added: “Awful evil movie obviously but I don’t blame Dylan for taking the money and just recording another standard.” The song, written by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter, was famously covered by Bing Crosby. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and Dylan have since covered the song.
Others were unimpressed with the cover, which featured in the bizarre biopic of the 40th POTUS. One listener wrote: “[Dylan] may not fancy himself a protest singer or a man that makes his politics widely known, but he sure has sung a lot about injustice and calling out political nonsense.
“And he has enough money for 100 lifetimes. This is disappointing but not shocking. He’s an imitable artist but a flawed person (like the rest of us).” Another agreed, adding: “I love the man’s music but I don’t want to know his current politics.
“I don’t always chalk such things up to a person’s essential character, usually just the propaganda their brain has been swimming in, but Bob has loved a certain brand of nationalism for decades now, and I can only imagine what speaks to him these days.”
Not everyone agreed, however, as one person suggested it was “ridiculous” to think Dylan had lost his touch. Though Dylan has not written any politically inclined songs over the last few years, he did include Masters of War in his Outlaw Music Festival set. It, along with the return of Mr. Tambourine Man, Positively 4th Street, and Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35, comes as Dylan is believed to be working on new material in the studio.
