Kylie Minogue Has Covered Bob Dylan - For The New Ab Fab Film

Bob Dylan's This Wheel's On Fire is synonymous with classic '90s Brit-com Absolutely Fabulous.

Initially recorded as the Ab Fab theme by Adrian Edmondson, husband to show's creator/star Jennifer Saunders, with singer Julie Driscoll (she'd originally had a hit with a cover of the song in 1968), This Wheel's On Fire was also re-recorded for later series by Edmondson with Debbie Harry.

Now with an Absolutely Fabulous film set to open in Australia on 4 August, it has been announced that our very own Kylie Minogue was pegged to record the latest version of the theme song.

Minogue says she is, quite rightly, honoured to be a part of the project, "As a huge fan of the Ab Fab series and both Jennifer and Joanna (Lumley, the series' other star), I’m over the moon to be singing the theme song, This Wheel’s On Fire.”

Minogue's version of the song will appear on the Ab Fab soundtrack, released 1 July, alongside a mix of songs from contemporary pop stars (Santigold, Paloma Faith, La Roux) and retro faves (Leonard Cohen's Bird On A Wire, Eartha Kitt's C'est Si Bon and Nancy Sinatra's take on MacArthur Park). The soundtrack also features "the film's most memorable musical moments" which seems to include cast members Julia Sawalha (Saffy) singing At Seventeen and Jane Horrocks (Bubbles) ripping through Big Spender.

The movie of Ab Fab finally brings the show's boozy fashionista protagonists Edina and Patsy (Saunders and Lumley) to the big screen after years of film-adaptation rumours (following two failed attempts at getting a US remake off the ground — first by Roseanne Barr and then by SNL writer Christine Zander). The film follows the pair on the run after they accidentally push Kate Moss into the Thames. 

However, the film has not been without controversy with one former series star unhappy not to be brought back for the movie as well as copping a social media blast when news broke that a Scottish actor had been hired to play a Japanese designer.

For the film's theme, Minogue is just the latest of many to tackle covering This Wheel's On Fire since Dylan recorded it with The Band in 1968 (that version surfaced on 1975's The Basement Tapes while The Band recorded another version for their 1968 album Music From Big Pink. After Driscoll's cover hit in the UK, the song was also recorded by The Byrds in 1969. Others to have covered the song include The Hollies, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Elvis Costello, Rod Stewart and The Damned's Rat Scabies.

Kylie Minogue's This Wheel's On Fire:

Ab Fab movie trailer:

This Wheel's On Fire as it's been tackled over the years: