I Can't Make You Love Me

"I Can't Make You Love Me" is a 1991 popular song, written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin and recorded by Bonnie Raitt on her Luck of the Draw album from that year. According to the I Can't Make You Love Me Songfacts, Reid got the idea for the song from a newspaper article about a guy who got drunk and shot up his girlfriend's car. When the judge sentenced him and asked him what he had learned, he said, "You can't make a woman love you if she don't." In August 2000, Mojo magazine voted "I Can't Make You Love Me" #8 on its The 100 Greatest Songs Of All Time list.[1] The song is ranked #331 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

[Verse 1] Turn down the lights Turn down the bed Turn down these voices inside my head Lay down with me Tell me no lies Just hold me close Don't patronize Don't patronize me [Chorus] 'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't You can't make your heart feel something it won't Here in the dark in these final hours I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power But you won't, no you won't 'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't [Verse 2] I'll close my eyes Then I won't see The love you don't feel when you're holding me Morning will come And I'll do what's right Just give me 'til then to give up this fight And I’ll give up this fight [Chorus] 'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't You can't make your heart feel something it won't Here in the dark in these final hours I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power But you won't, no you won't 'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't