Hootie & the Blowfish Had to Pay Up Because ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ Was So Similar to a Bob Dylan Song

TL;DR:

• Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be with You” uses lyrics from one of Bob Dylan’s songs.
• Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish discussed why the song was a Dylan tribute.
• Two versions of the song by two different artists became hits.

Some of Bob Dylan‘s songs from the 1970s inspired Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be with You.” Initially, Dylan’s label had no issue with this. Subsequently, the band had to hand over some money.

2 Bob Dylan songs inspired Hootie & the Blowfish’s ‘Only Wanna Be with You’

During a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Rucker discussed the history of “Only Wanna Be with You.” “That was a straight tribute to [Dylan],” says Rucker. “I wrote it around the time I was listening to Blood on the Tracks every day.”

“Only Wanna Be with You” heavily paraphrases some lines from Dylan’s song “Idiot Wind.” “The line ‘They say I shot a man named Grey and took his wife to Italy/She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me/I can’t help it if I’m lucky’ was just so vivid,” he opined. “That was a straight tribute to my love of Dylan.” The tune also mentions Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue.”

Hootie & the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker discussed the controversy surrounding his band’s song

Dylan’s camp was not pleased with the similarities between “Idiot Wind” and “Only Wanna Be with You,” especially after the latter became a huge hit. “It never got to the point where we were sued,” Rucker said. “When we first did that song we sent it to the publishing company and everything was fine. 

“We played it for years and had a really big hit with it,” he continued. “Then they wanted some money, and they got it. We weren’t trying to rip anybody off. It was like, ‘If you think that’s the case, sure.”

How ‘Idiot Wind’ and ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ performed on the charts

“Idiot Wind” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It appeared on the album Blood on the Tracks, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks, staying on the chart for 24 weeks in total.

On the other hand, “Only Wanna Be with You” became a hit in the United States. The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s highest-charting single in the U.S. It stayed on the chart for 32 weeks.

“Only Wanna Be with You” appeared on Hootie & the Blowfish’s debut album Cracked Rear View. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and stayed on the chart for 129 weeks. Cracked Rear View became the group’s biggest album in the U.S. by a long shot.

“Only Wanna Be with You” became a hit again when singer/rapper Post Malone recorded a version of it. It reached No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for a single week.

“Only Wanna Be with You” is a perennial favorite and it wouldn’t be the same without Dylan.