Top Ten Covers of Dylan Songs: If Not for You (#9)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (61915)
United States
December 8, 2021 10:08am CST
Incurring the ire of the Bob Dylan fans, I’ll forge onward with this list of favorite songs that Dylan wrote. And, gee, it looks like a rendition of “songs you didn’t know were covers” has broken out with this song. This genuinely shocked me, and maybe it’ll surprise you as well. Here’s today’s song.
#9: If Not for You - Olivia Newton-John
Really? Does this sound like the guy who wrote “Masters of War”? 
Well, Bobby Z was in love…..
This was Olivia Newton-John’s first hit, and it was a success in pop and country. Now, the interesting thing (other than the fact that Dylan wrote it) is that she “heavily borrowed” her arrangement from the recording made…..
By George Harrison.
Yes, that George Harrison. He recorded it the same year Dylan did (1970).
The song didn’t do much to establish George Harrison as somebody 
but it made an international superstar out of Olivia Newton-John.
If Not for You
Written by Bob Dylan
Recorded by Olivia Newton-John
From If Not for You, 1971
The winter would hold no spring:
Well, Bobby Z was in love…..
This was Olivia Newton-John’s first hit, and it was a success in pop and country. Now, the interesting thing (other than the fact that Dylan wrote it) is that she “heavily borrowed” her arrangement from the recording made…..
By George Harrison.
Yes, that George Harrison. He recorded it the same year Dylan did (1970).
The song didn’t do much to establish George Harrison as somebody but it made an international superstar out of Olivia Newton-John.
If Not for You
Written by Bob Dylan
Recorded by Olivia Newton-John
From If Not for You, 1971
The winter would hold no spring:
Olivia Newton-John - If Not For You, ein Hit 1971. Audio-CD-Sound zu altem Video-Material aus TV-Show.Sound replaced by audio-cd-sound. Full song.
7 people like this
7 responses
@xander6464 (40825)
• Wapello, Iowa
8 Dec 21
I feel sorry for George Harrison. I think he could have done well in the music business but instead, he didn't apply himself and ended up being just another 23 hit wonder.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61915)
• United States
8 Dec 21
Yeah, I think he spent too much time in that wanna-be band the Bee Tells, or whatever they were called.
1 person likes this
@xander6464 (40825)
• Wapello, Iowa
8 Dec 21
@FourWalls He did waste a lot of time with them. 20 #1's in seven years is nothing to write home about.
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (34300)
•
10 Dec 21
At least George had some other well-received songs off that double LP. Isn't It A Pity that one did not get the same acclaim? Anyway, I absolutely loved Harrison's cover of that Dylan song .
1 person likes this
@JimBo452020 (42629)
• United Kingdom
8 Dec 21
Oh well never mind
Harrison did the song brilliantly many times
Dylan obviously did it brilliantly thousands of times
But Newton John, nah,
Just No.
1 person likes this
