Musicians borrowing from other artists is nothing new. From Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to so many others, there’s no shortage of iconic bands out there that wear their influences on their sleeves, so to speak. Sometimes, though, the line between inspiration and flat-out theft gets crossed.
Such was the case with Hootie & The Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You”…or at least, that’s how Bob Dylan felt about it. Not only does the 1995 hit reference Dylan’s song “Tangled Up in Blue,” it also features several lines from “Idiot Wind,” which appeared on Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks.
According to Darius Rucker, Dylan’s management was aware of the lyrics and didn’t object initially…but things changed after “Only Wanna Be With You” became a huge hit.
“That was a straight tribute to [Bob Dylan],” Rucker 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.”
“When we first did that song, we sent it to the publishing company and everything was fine,” Rucker 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.'”
Hootie & The Blowfish never gave credit to Bob Dylan for his lyrics
According to Far Out magazine, while Hootie & The Blowfish weren’t technically sued by Dylan, the legendary musician’s lawyers gave the band an ultimatum, which led to them making a one-time payment of around $350,000.
Luckily for Rucker and his bandmates, their album Cracked Rear View went 21-times platinum, so a few hundred thousand dollars likely didn’t break the bank — and even now, Dylan’s name doesn’t appear in the writing credits for “Only Wanna Be With You” (but fans know who really wrote those iconic lines).
Related: ’70s Folk Icon’s Throwback of Casual Jam Session With Bob Dylan Is Pure Magic
This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
