+ scroll down for versions of If Not for You by Bob Dylan and George Harrison
Australian singles chart:
If Not for You entered the Kent charts on 26 April 1971 and peaked at #7. The song was #69 on the Top 100 of 1971.
Album:
The song is on If Not for You which entered the Kent album charts on 13 December 1971 and peaked at #14.
Songwriter:
Bob Dylan
Producers:
Bruce Welch, John Farrar
Record label of Australian release:
Interfusion
BONUS SONGS – scroll down for versions by Bob Dylan and George Harrison
Wikipedia:
In 1971, singer Olivia Newton-John released If Not for You as her first international single, after gaining prominence through her appearances on Cliff Richard’s concert tours and the TV show It’s Cliff Richard. Marking the start of her 1970s country pop period, the recording features an arrangement closer to George Harrison’s version than to Bob Dylan’s – both of those below.
It was one of many examples of middle-of-the-road artists seeking to achieve hit songs by covering tracks from Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass.
Music historian Dave Thompson describes Newton-John’s version as “superb” and, citing her readiness to acknowledge Harrison’s influence, says that Dylan “never truly got to grips with what remains one of his most affecting love songs”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Not_for_You#Olivia_Newton-John
Versions by Olivia Newton-John and George Harrison are on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
BONUS SONGS
If Not for You by Bob Dylan
If Not for You is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his 1970 album New Morning. The song is a love song to Dylan’s first wife, Sara Dylan.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Not_for_You
If Not for You by George Harrison
George Harrison included If Not for You on his first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must Pass, released in November 1970.
Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone describes Harrison’s If Not for You as “surprisingly beautiful”, while author Simon Leng deems it a “gleaming pop creation”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Not_for_You#George_Harrison
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