I don’t claim to be a singer. I’m a keyboard player, so don’t shoot the piano player if he doesn’t sing all that well. But through the years, I’ve played behind some mighty fine vocalists, both male and female. At present, I’m teamed up with my wife and she does a great job – and I don’t have to pay her! But there’s one song that nobody, and I mean nobody, can sing as well as the original artist. Bonnie Raitt’s version of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” is bluesy, sultry, and heart-rending in it’s raw emotion. Got to be one of the ten best songs ever!
The song was written by Nashville composer Mike Reid. His inspiration came from reading an article about a guy who shot at his girlfriend’s car and, when the judge asked him what he’d learned, he replied, “I learned, your honor, that you can’t make a woman love you if she don’t”. So true…
Bonnie recorded the song in just one take – refusing to do another because she said the song was so sad she couldn’t begin to recapture the emotion. The sequence we use is listed under Pop/Rock. It’s electric piano-based with grand piano interpolations much like Bruce Hornsby in the original. If you’re not doing the song, grab this sequence now. Maybe you can belt it out like Bonnie – but I doubt it.
Bonnie Raitt video below:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bonnie+raitt+i+can%27t+make+you+love+me&qpvt=bonnie+raitt+i+can%27t+make+you+love+me&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=A7F928FFA7C0A2C538E0A7F928FFA7C0A2C538E0