I Can't Make You Love Me

"I Can't Make You Love Me" was written by Nashville writers Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, who were well-noted for their successes in the country music arena. The song was rewritten many times before being finalized, months later. "We wrote, most every week, in Mike's basement," Shamblin told Peter Cooper in an interview with the Nashville Tennessean. "And we'd worked on this song for more than six months. One day, he said, 'Come up to the living room,' where his piano was. He sat down and started playing this melody, and it was one of the most moving pieces of music I'd heard. I mean, it hit me in a hard way ... Instantly, I knew it was the best thing I'd ever been a part of."[5] Reid and Shamblin were both country music songwriters, who according to some accounts originally wrote the song as a fast, bluegrass number. Upon slowing down the tempo considerably, they realized the song gained considerable power and thought about giving the song to one of three artists: Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler or Linda Ronstadt. Eventually, the song made its way to Bonnie Raitt, who recorded the track for her eleventh studio album, Luck of the Draw (1991). Raitt co-produced the song with Don Was, while Bruce Hornsby provided a piano accompaniment.[6]

The idea for the song came to Reid while reading an article about a man arrested for getting drunk and shooting at his girlfriend's car. The judge asked him if he had learned anything, to which he replied, "I learned, Your Honor, that you can't make a woman love you if she don't."[7] Raitt recorded the vocal in just one take in the studio, later saying that it was so sad a song that she could not recapture the emotion: "We'd try to do it again and I just said, 'You know, this ain't going to happen.'"[8]

A pensive ballad, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was recorded against a quiet electric piano-based arrangement, with prominent piano fills and interpolations supplied by Bruce Hornsby.

"I Can't Make You Love Me" received acclaim from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the track, calling it a "strong song" and picking it as one of the album's best tracks.[9] Steve Hochman of Los Angeles Times hailed the song as one of Raitt's most elegant tracks.[10] Elysa Gardner wrote for Rolling Stone that "Raitt's gorgeously understated rendering of 'I Can't Make You Love Me,' in which sentiments such as 'I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power/But you won't' are delivered with a quiet resignation that's worth a hundred glissandi in emotional weight."[11]

"I Can't Make You Love Me" entered many lists of the greatest songs of all time. In 2000, Mojo magazine placed it at number 8 on its "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.[6] The song is also ranked No. 339 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2] The website "Ultimate Classic Rock" placed the song at number 24 on their "25 Saddest Songs Ever", praising Bonnie Raitt vocals, writing that "she sings in one of her most impassioned vocals ever. There's real ache in every word that drips from her pained lips."[12]

The song's popularity helped solidify her remarkable late-in-career commercial success that had begun two years before. In the time since, "I Can't Make You Love Me" has gone on to become a pop standard and a mainstay of adult contemporary radio formats. For Raitt, the song was notoriously difficult to sing, due to its required vocal range, difficult phrasing and breathing, and the emotional content involved. At the televised Grammy Awards of 1992 Raitt performed it in an even more austere setting than on record, with just her and Hornsby highlighted. As she negotiated the final vocal line, she let out a big audible and visible sigh of relief that she had successfully gotten through it. Her live performance of the song was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume III.[13] Raitt has continued to sing the song in all her concert tours:

I mean, 'I Can't Make You Love Me' is no picnic. I love that song, so does the audience. So it's almost a sacred moment when you share that, that depth of pain with your audience. Because they get really quiet, and I have to summon ... some other place in order to honor that space.

— Raitt, 2002 NPR interview[14]

The video for this song uses the shorter single version of the song. Filmed in color, but transferred to video for black-and-white, with vibrant lighting effects, it features Raitt performing the song in front of a curtain with a silhouette of a pianist in the background (played by Bruce Hornsby, who actually plays piano on the record), while in other scenes, a scorching fire is taking place outdoors and many shadows of trees, branches, and even people at times are seen swaying to the song's rhythm. The music video was directed, photographed and edited by acclaimed director/photographer/illustrator Matt Mahurin, who has directed videos for artists including U2, Peter Gabriel, REM and Sting.

The song was a big hit for Raitt, reaching number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[15] The song placed at number 100 on the Billboard Year-End chart of 1992.[16] In New Zealand, the song was Raitt's highest charting-single, reaching number 22,[17] while in Netherlands, the song charted moderately at number 43.[18]

Although Bruce Hornsby had no hand in writing the song, his piano part on it became associated with him. Phil Collins described it as instantly recognizable as Hornsby's work.[27] Hornsby's own publicity material mentions his role on the "classic".[28]

"I Can't Make You Love Me"
Single by George Michael
from the album Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael
A-side	"Older"
Released	20 January 1997
Length	5:23
Label	Virgin Aegean
Songwriter(s)	Mike Reid Allen Shamblin
Producer(s)	George Michael
George Michael singles chronology
"Spinning the Wheel" (1996) "Older" / "I Can't Make You Love Me" (1997) "Star People" (1997)

English singer George Michael covered "I Can't Make You Love Me" and released it on 20 January 1997 as a double A-side with "Older", serving as the fourth single from Michael's third studio album, Older. Michael's version was also included on his compilation Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (1998). "Older" / "I Can't Make You Love Me" reached number three on the UK Singles Chart.

"I Can't Make You Love Me"
Single by Boyz II Men
from the album Love
Released	October 27, 2009
Recorded	2008
Genre	R&B
Length	5:17
Label	Decca UMTV
Songwriter(s)	Mike Reid Allen Shamblin
Boyz II Men singles chronology
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (2008) "I Can't Make You Love Me" (2009) "Iris" (2009)

American R&B vocal group Boyz II Men recorded "I Can't Make You Love Me" for their third cover album, Love (2009). Their version was released as the album's first single on October 27, 2009. Having a more R&B approach, "I Can't Make You Love Me" received generally favorable reviews from music critics, while it has achieved minor success on the Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

On June 14, 2011, a version of the song by Justin Vernon as Bon Iver was released as the B-side to the single "Calgary".[42]

In 2011, English singer Adele covered "I Can't Make You Love Me" for her first live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2011). The song was acclaimed by music critics, who praised Adele's delivery and vocals. The song has charted on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the top-forty, although it was never released as a single.

In 2014, Indian actress and singer Priyanka Chopra recorded a version of "I Can't Make You Love Me" for her debut studio album. Speaking about the song, Chopra said "This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It's my ode to a classic, a song that I love, and one that says so much – this is for the actor in me."[57] Chopra's version of the song incorporates electronic dance music (EDM) and electropop in its production,.[58][59] which comes courtesy of German producer Manuel "DJ Manian" Reuter. Andy Gensler from Billboard commented on how different Chopra's version was from the original by Raitt, saying that "Chopra's more uptempo take on the song is more likely to connect with a generation of ravers with no idea of the song's origin"[60] The up-tempo version was demoed by American singer Ester Dean at the request of Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine.[60]

It was released on 22 April 2014, by DesiHits, in association with 2101 Records and Interscope Records.[61][62] It is the third internationally released single following "In My City" (featuring will.i.am), which failed to achieve airplay in the United States,[63] and "Exotic". In the United Kingdom, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was originally planned to be Chopra's debut single.[59]