"Make You Feel My Love", also known as "To Make You Feel My Love" is a song written by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

for his album '' Time Out of Mind'', released in September 1997. It was first released commercially in August 1997 by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

for his compilation album '' Greatest Hits Volume III''. It is one of the few songs to have achieved the status of becoming a " standard" in the 21st century, having been covered by more than 450 different artists.

Cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

s have been recorded by

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry an ...

, Joan Osborne,

Teddy Swims Jaten Dimsdale, known by his stage name Teddy Swims, is an American singer-songwriter, known for blending genres including R&B, soul, country, and pop. Originally attracting fans through his cover performances on his YouTube, which has amassed 4 ...

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

Shane Filan Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish pop singer. He is one of the two lead singers of pop vocal group Westlife, which was formed in 1998, disbanded in 2012, and regrouped in 2018. Westlife have released thirteen albums, embarked on ...

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of '' American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her de ...

Ane Brun Ane Brun (; born Ane Brunvoll on 10 March 1976) is a Norwegian songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist of Sami origin. Since 2003, she has recorded ten albums, eight of which are studio albums of original material (including a collection of duets), ...

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

Clare Dunn Clare Dunn (born April 27, 1987) is an American country musician from southeast Colorado. After support from satellite radio as a "Highway Find" on The Highway (Sirius XM), she signed with Universal Music Group Nashville and BMG. She has open ...

Sleeping at Last Sleeping at Last is a musical project led by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan O'Neal. The project initially began in Wheaton, Illinois as a three-piece band with Ryan O'Neal as the lead singer and guitarist, his brother Chad O'N ...

, Nick Knowles, and

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Reception

''Spectrum Culture'' included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '90s". In an article accompanying the list, critic John Paul described it thus: "Accompanied by a lone piano, ghostlike bass line and slightly woozy sounding organ playing sustained notes throughout, the arrangement of the song isn’t terribly remarkable, the meat of the song itself relying on Dylan’s surprisingly emotional read and jazz-like chord progression". A 2021 ''Guardian'' article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".

Personnel

– piano, vocals Additional musicians * Tony Garnier –

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

Augie Meyers August "Augie" Meyers (born May 31, 1940) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, performer, studio musician, record producer, and record label owner. He is perhaps best known as a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas ...

– organ

Live performances

According to his official website, Dylan performed the song live over 300 times in concert between 1997 and 2019 on the Never Ending Tour. A live version performed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 1998 was released on Dylan's "

Things Have Changed "Things Have Changed" is a song from the film ''Wonder Boys'', written and performed by Bob Dylan and released as a single on May 1, 2000, that won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. ...

" CD single in 2000. The live debut occurred at

Columbia Township Auditorium Columbia Township Auditorium, also known as Township Auditorium, is a historic auditorium located in Columbia, South Carolina. It was built in 1930 (93 years ago), and is a three-story, brick building with a Doric order columned portico in the Geo ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the cit ...

on November 2, 1997, and the last performance (to date) took place at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on December 8, 2019.

Billy Joel version

released his version of the song, titled "To Make You Feel My Love", for his compilation album '' Greatest Hits Volume III'' (1997). It was released as the album's lead single and reached number 50 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, to date his last appearance on the chart. Joel's single pre-dated Dylan's release of the song by one month.

Chart history

Garth Brooks version

covered the song as "To Make You Feel My Love" in 1998. It appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

of the 1998 film '' Hope Floats'', along with a cover version by

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...

as the first and last tracks. It was included first as the bonus track on '' Fresh Horses'' for Garth's first ''

Limited Series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

'' box set and then included on all later pressings of that album. Brooks' version resulted in a nomination at 41st Grammy Award for

Best Male Country Vocal Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ...

and a nomination for

for Best Country Song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Adele version

In 2008, British singer-songwriter

recorded "Make You Feel My Love" for her debut studio album '' 19'' (2008). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on October 27, 2008, both on CD and vinyl, originally peaking at number 26.

Background

"Make You Feel My Love" is the only

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

on Adele's debut album ''19''; she either wrote or co-wrote all the others. She listened to the song under pressure from her manager and loved it, although she did not want a

on her album, worried that it implies that she is incapable of writing enough of her own songs. Piano is played by Neil Cowley and Adele is credited with bass.

Critical reception

According to Alex Fletcher of ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'', the version expresses Adele's affection for the song, "with just piano as backing, her dreamy, passionate vocals are allowed to shine". According to Dave Simpson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', with her "hushed delivery", Adele makes the song "her own". In January 2013,

Heart Radio Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while th ...

listed Adele's recording as the UK's number one song of all time in its Hall of Fame Top 500.

Chart performance

Initially, the song only reached a peak of number 26, but found a new lease of life in 2010, two years after its release, following performances by several contestants on the seventh series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''. In September 2010, after it was performed by Annastasia Baker, it re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 24. The song then surged to number 4 the following month after a second performance by Gamu Nhengu. Following a third ''X Factor'' performance and heavy use in the ''

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

'' 2010 television, it spent three more non-consecutive weeks in the top 10. Thanks to this newfound attention, "Make You Feel My Love" was the 48th biggest selling song of 2010. In early 2011 the song returned to the top 40 again, at number 34, after it was used on the fifth series of ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloqui ...

''. After years of trickle selling, "Make You Feel My Love" passed the million sales mark in the UK in 2017.

Music video

The song's music video features

singing the song in London Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf. It was directed by Mat Kirkby. As of October 2021, the music video has received over 180 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Live performances

On Friday, November 20, 2015, Adele sang the song during a BBC special, ''Adele at the BBC'', hosted by talk show host

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comed ...

. One segment of the show, which went viral, featured a prank in which eight Adele

impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...

s were invited to audition at the

Wimbledon Theatre The New Wimbledon Theatre is situated on the Broadway, Wimbledon, London, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a Grade II listed Edwardian theatre built by the theatre lover and entrepreneur, J. B. Mulholland. Built on the site of a large hous ...

for a nonexistent show. Adele herself, disguised as a nanny named "Jenny", pretended to also be an Adele impersonator, and was the last one to sing. When she started singing "Make You Feel My Love", the other performers finally recognized her and realized they had been pranked.

Usage in media

Adele's version features in the

of the 2010 romantic comedy film '' When in Rome''. Her cover version was also featured in the compilation album for the benefit of those affected by Supertyphoon Haiyan in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

entitled '' Songs for the Philippines''. During a concert at London's

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

on March 22, 2016, the day of the Brussels bombings, Adele dedicated a performance of the song to the victims of the attacks. In addition, Adele's video of the song, directed by Mat Kirby, was released on music channels in late September 2008 and continues to be featured on her website.

List of recordings

Digital download #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 Digital download #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 CD single #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 #"Painting Pictures" – 3:33 ''19'' version #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 ''19 Deluxe'' version #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:52 '' Chimes of Freedom'' live version #"Make You Feel My Love" – 4:04 '' Live at the Royal Albert Hall'' live version #"Make You Feel My Love" – 3:48

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

In popular culture

Two covers of the song (one by Garth Brooks and one by

) were featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 film '' Hope Floats''.

References

External links

Lyrics
at Bob Dylan's official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Make You Feel My Love 1997 singles 1997 songs 1998 singles 2008 singles Adele songs Garth Brooks songs Bob Dylan songs Billy Joel songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Jim Abbiss Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois Songs written by Bob Dylan UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles XL Recordings singles