Songoftheday 3/11/18 - Turn down the lights turn down the bed, turn down these voices inside my head...
from the album Luck Of The Draw (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from blues-rock queen Bonnie Raitt, who parlayed her Grammy-winning comeback from the album Nick Of Time into her first top-40 pop hit in the fall of 1991 with "Something To Talk About". While that song would be the highest-charting single of her career, the follow-up track is arguably her best-loved and remembered. "I Can't Make You Love Me", written by football hero turned country singer Mike Reid along with songwriter Allen Shamblin, was a delicate and painful take on unrequited love delivered with the exact amount of emotion by Bonnie as piano riffs drift beneath. It was an often-tackled subject offered with true realism and resolve that resonated with many people like myself dealing with that exact issue at that moment...
"I Can't Make You Love Me" became Bonnie's second top-40 pop hit in February of 1992. The song also climbed to #6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Internationally, it reached #22 in New Zealand, #40 in Canada, #43 in the Netherlands, and #50 in the UK.
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Bonnie sang "I Can't Make You Love Me" on the Tonight Show in 1991...
Later that year, Mike Reid released his own version of his song, as the final track on his second album Twilight Town...
Here's Bonnie appearing on German TV performing the song...
In 1997, George Michael covered "I Can't Make You Love Me" as the flip-side of his single "Older", and the pair rose to #3 on the British singles chart...
The emotional song has been the fodder of many of the singing competitions, starting with Carrie Underwood who sang it for her American Idol audition in 2005...
Fast forward to 2009, when yesterday's SOTD artists, Boyz II Men, released a version of the song, which slipped in at #75 on Billboard's R&B chart...
A year later, soul singer Tank took his "I Can't Make You Love Me" to #27 on Billboard's Adult R&B radio chart, and #64 on the main R&B list...
Adele included the classic in her Live At Royal Albert Hall concert in 2012, and the live take ended up a top-40 hit in the UK at #37...
Indian actress and singer Priyanka Chopra reached the American dance singles sales top-40 in 2012 with a sped-up club version of it, those it is pretty jarring...
Lastly, here's Bonnie live with Bruce Hornsby, who played keys on her album version...
Up tomorrow: Giant metal band tones it down for their chummy #1 hit.
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