Only Wanna Be with You by Tim Sommer

Author:Tim Sommer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

—22— HOW A MAN NAMED GRAY ALMOST SHOT AND KILLED CRACKED REAR VIEW

Early in the autumn of 1994, we got word that we had a problem. A big problem. Bob Dylan’s publishers were not happy that Hootie & the Blowfish had used five lines from Dylan’s song “Idiot Wind” in “Only Wanna Be With You” (everything from “I shot a man named Gray” through “I can’t help it if I’m lucky” is quoted from the Dylan song).

This was really effing scary on multiple levels. If Dylan’s people wanted to, they could demand that we take the track off the record. This happens in about half of these sort of copyright disputes. It’s important to remember that at the time this problem surfaced, cracked rear view hadn’t really taken off yet. I was fairly certain that if we had to pull the track from the album, Atlantic would not go to the expense or trouble of re-pressing the CD, cassette, or album. Kim Kaiman, Gus Gusler, and Evan Lamberg (who was the real expert with this publishing stuff) were also panicking in a major way and agreed that it was unlikely Atlantic would re-press the album if the track had to be removed.

Considering how hugely successful cracked rear view became, it’s odd to consider this incident almost derailed the whole project (and how close Atlantic came to throwing tens of thousands of already made product into the dumpster, the ocean, and/or a landfill on Staten Island). But you’ve got to remember that, to many Atlantic execs, the costs of re-pressing a new cracked rear view (without “Only Wanna Be With You”) would probably have outweighed any potential money they thought the band could make. I recall sitting in my office in Los Angeles, staring at the bubbles rising in a glass of diet ginger ale and thinking, well, that’s that. After all, it was totally a crapshoot whether a settlement could be reached with Dylan’s people.

How did this potential catastrophe happen in the first place? Well, it turns out Rusty Harmon, and the band thought they already had a deal with Dylan. Remember, “Only Wanna Be With You” had earlier appeared on the Kootchypop EP, released a little over a year before cracked rear view. Band manager Rusty Harmon says that back in early 1993 he had some casual contact with Dylan’s publishers. Rusty goes on to explain that after sending Dylan’s people the lyrics to “Only Wanna Be With You,” they said there wouldn’t be any problem. He says that after that brief amenable conversation, Dylan’s people sent Rusty some paperwork.

Apparently, the original Kootchypop-era paperwork said that the band could use the quoted Dylan lines for no charge, with no copyright share, and with no credit, but if the band ever used the song on a major label release, Dylan and his publishers had to be notified in advance. Rusty, apparently, had forgotten about that clause, and Gus never knew about it in the first place.

Gus Gusler: “The first I heard of any of this is when I happened to notice Dylan was suing us.

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