Hootie & The Blowfish and their legal battle with Bob Dylan: “We weren’t trying to rip anybody off”

The music industry has seen many high-profile copyright infringement cases over the years - in some instances, just for using a brief snippet of someone else’s song can cost you millions. Just as The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, who only now is seeing royalties for “Bittersweet Symphony” after being taken to the cleaners by the Rolling Stones.

Bob Dylan has been involved in numerous court cases, both for being accused of plagiarism and as a plaintiff, filing lawsuits against those who pilfer from his back catalog.

One of the most recent legal battles was with Hootie & The Blowfish for the references in their 1995 hit single ‘Only Wanna Be with You’.

An independent release: a cassette sold at gigs

‘Only Wanna Be with You’ was originally written in the early 90s before the South Carolina band had secured a recording contract. It was the penultimate track on a six-song EP cassette Kootchypop which the band recorded and released independently on their own Fishco label in 1993.

Atlantic Records A+R man Tim Sommer heard Kootchypop and signed the band up to a major deal. ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ was re-recorded for Hootie & The Blowfish’s debut album Cracked Rear View and released as a single, the group’s fifth for the label, in July 1995.

Darius Rucker, Bob Dylan fan

The song not only namechecked Dylan (“Put on a little Dylan, sittin’ on a fence”) but also borrowed lines from ‘Idiot Wind’ - one of the tracks on Dylan’s 1975 album 'Blood on the Tracks’ (“Said I shot a man named Gray, took his wife to Italy”), as well as a song title from the same LP (“Yeah, I’m tangled up in blue”).

Nobody at the publishing company flagged the Dylan references and the uncredited use of his lyrics. Bob’s management and label Columbia reportedly knew all about it and had no problem with it - until ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ became a hit.

‘Only Wanna Be with You’ hits the charts

‘Only Wanna Be with You’ peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached top spot on the Top 40/Mainstream chart. By September, it had broke into the Top 40 in Australia and New Zealand, and charted in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. That was when Dylan’s legal team got involved.

Hootie lead singer Darius Rucker told Rolling Stone in 2013: “I love Bob Dylan. Blood on the Tracks is one of my top five records. ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ was a straight tribute to him. 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. 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.’”

While Dylan was out on the road, wrapping up the final dates of a mammoth 115-date tour, his lawyers issued Hootie & The Blowfish and Atlantic an ultimatum, forcing them to make a one-off payment, reported to be around $350,000.

There was a happy ending - even if Dylan still hasn’t been given a writing credit. Cracked Rear View went platinum, both versions of ‘Only Wanna Be with You’ including a remastered version of the 1993 recording, have sold well and Rucker still performs it live to this day - as one of Hootie’s most requested songs.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.