One of the things I do whenever I’m learning a new song, is I try to find multiple versions to listen to – in this case, it’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. Sometimes this isn’t possible but generally there’s at least 2-3 versions of a given song out there for general consumption. The reason for me doing this is that each artist brings their own spin on a given song, which means I can hear different takes, but I can also get a better sense of the completely ‘neutral’ version of the song… the hidden structure/substrate that lies underneath singers’ versions of the song, rather than getting caught up in thinking this “ONE” version is the definitive version.
Anyway, the last week or two I’ve been spending some time with a song I’ve mentioned on my site before:
I Can’t Make You Love Me
Version #1: Bonnie Raitt
This is the original, and (in my opinion) probably the best, but it is completely subjective. Have a listen and see what you think. Listen to how straight she sings it. Raitt is also very sparing with her vibrato. It’s in Bb, so the top note is only just departing chest voice. She lets the tone and the melody speak for itself.
Version #2: George Michael
I am a big fan of George Michael’s voice and style. If you ever listen to GM’s material, you’ll notice he leaves a LOT of space in his songs, has a judicious use of reverb, and tends to have quite a big dynamic and tonal variation throughout. He’ll back right off into a breathy sound multiple times for the first half of many songs (include this one), and then gradually thicken up and the tone and sit into it a lot more by the end… but he never overdoes it.
GM certainly does more than Bonnie Raitt, but it’s only a degree or two more.
Version #3: Adele
Such is the dominance of Adele on the internet, for some time if you ever searched for “I can’t make you love me chords” on Google, it would turn it up as one of Adele’s songs.
Here, Adele steps up the riffing and stylistic influences far more than Raitt or Michael. There’s also a fair few flat notes knocking around. Personally, as great as Adele is as an artist, I’m really not a fan of this version. I appreciate the space the pianist leaves, and it’s a very sparse track, but I’m not sure this marriage of singer and song does either of them justice. I personally don’t feel the beauty of the song (as is so wonderfully shown by Bonnie Raitt and George Michael) shines through, and I’m not sure Adele’s strengths show in this either. But that is a) completely subjective, and b) ENTIRELY the point of listening to as many versions of a song as possible, to get a sense of the mileage in a given song, and what works and what doesn’t.
So which one do you prefer?
1) Bonnie Raitt
2) George Michael
3) Adele
Learn More: Related Articles
If you want to learn more about vocal style, you may enjoy these related articles:
Style vs Hyper-style: An analysis of Modern Vocal Style
Developing Style: Expansion and Contraction
Learn to riff: why it’s easier than you think
Why singing is like clothing
Double check your musical diet
Why do singers resort to gimmicks to get noticed?