Rolling Stone critic Parke Puterbaugh hailed the song as "astonishingly Dylanesque", and went on to say that "there's no excuse for omitting ['Long Distance' from the LP version of State of Confusion]".
Rolling Stone critic Parke Puterbaugh praised the song, stating that it was remarkably similar to Bob Dylan's style. He also suggested that the song should be included in the original album version of "State of Confusion".