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In 1970, Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a love song for his first wife, Sara. "If Not for You" was released on Bob's "New Morning" album, but it was never released as a single.
George Harrison, recovering from the recent break-up of The Beatles, while putting together his Concert for Bangladesh," as well as his "All Things Must Pass" TRIPLE Album, fell in love with the song, and worked with Bob in an effort to convince him to perform it as a duet at the concert...and on the album.
They got as far as performing it at the Madison Square Garden Bangladesh Concert sound check, but in the end, it didn't happen. HOWEVER, there IS footage of the sound check, and I've included it below.
George, however, came up with his own solo arrangement of the song, and included it on the album. It wasn't released as as a single, either.
John Farrar, Olivia Newton-John's producer, arranger, and mentor, thought "If Not For You" would be perfect her, but Olivia disagreed. At first. She didn't think it was "her sort of song," but Farrar persisted, and Olivia relented.
Oddly, she had never heard Bob's version--only George's--and only because they used George's arrangement as her backing track.
When it was released as a single, it charted in 9 countries, and became Olivia's first American hit, reaching #1 on Billboard's Easy Listening Chart, and catapulting her into the mainstream for decades.
At that point, Columbia Records wanted Bob to finally release his version as a single...but he hesitated...and Columbia finally decided it would be hard to make it a hit after Olivia had just done so.
What strikes me about all this is the level of talent that "If Not for You" is attached to: Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Olivia Newton-John.
If that's not a collective formula for a "Great Song of the '70s," I don't know what is!
Bob & George Soundcheck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjzTf9BVLR4
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