Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me (34th Grammy Awards 1992)

Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me
34th Annual Grammy Awards, 1992
Written in 1990 by country music songwriting giants Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, 1991’s smash hit “I Can’t Make You Love Me” became one of Bonnie Raitt’s most successful singles to date, hailed universally by critics for the audible ache in her voice as she details the heartbreak of being the loser in a one-sided relationship. Featured on Raitt’s Grammy Award winning album Luck Of The Draw, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” may not have taken home a Grammy at the 1992 Grammy Awards, but it definitely stole the show when Bonnie took the stage that night with piano accompanist Bruce Hornsby and for nearly 5 minutes rendered an audience full of musicians, songwriters and industry professionals silent.
Sitting on a stool beside the piano and bathed in spotlight, Bonnie’s pain is real and it’s up close and personal for the entire world to see, finally giving a face to what Steve Hochman of Los Angeles Times hailed the song as “one of Raitt’s most elegant tracks” in a performance that wowed with both its quiet, austere setting and emotionally charged subject matter.
Words by Ryan Leas (Stereogum)