Why This ’90s Chart-Topping Band Had to Pay Bob Dylan Hundreds of Thousands in Royalties
Photo by The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
When Tribute Turns Into Trouble
There’s a fine line between influence and imitation. Throughout rock history, countless artists have borrowed from their musical heroes—sometimes as homage, other times stepping too close for comfort. In the mid-1990s, Hootie & The Blowfish found themselves caught in that gray area when Bob Dylan took issue with one of their biggest hits, “Only Wanna Be With You.”
The 1995 single, which helped make the band one of the decade’s most successful acts, directly referenced Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” and even borrowed several lines from “Idiot Wind,” both tracks from his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. What began as a heartfelt nod to a songwriting legend soon became an expensive lesson in copyright law.
Darius Rucker’s Dylan Obsession
Frontman Darius Rucker has always been open about his admiration for Dylan, calling the song a “straight tribute.” He told Rolling Stone, “I wrote it around the time I was listening to Blood on the Tracks every day. 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. That was a straight tribute to my love of Dylan.”
Rucker said Dylan’s team was initially fine with the references. “When we first did that song, we sent it to the publishing company and everything was fine,” he explained. “We played it for years and had a really big hit with it. 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.’”
The Cost of Borrowed Lyrics
While Hootie & The Blowfish were never officially sued, Dylan’s lawyers issued an ultimatum, according to Far Out magazine. The band ultimately made a one-time payment of about $350,000 to settle the matter. Despite the payment, Dylan’s name still does not appear in the songwriting credits for “Only Wanna Be With You.”
Fortunately for the group, the song’s success was massive. Their debut album, Cracked Rear View, went 21-times platinum, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. For Rucker and his bandmates, the six-figure payout didn’t hurt too much—but fans who know their Dylan likely recognize exactly where those unforgettable lyrics came from.
