Make You Feel My Love


"Make You Feel My Love" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his 1997 album Time Out of Mind. It was first released commercially by Billy Joel, under the title "To Make You Feel My Love", before Dylan's version appeared later that same year. It has since been covered by numerous performers and has proved to be a commercial success for singers such as Clare Dunn, Adele, Garth Brooks, Shane Filan, Bryan Ferry, Kelly Clarkson, Ane Brun and Nick Knowles. Dylan eventually released the song as a single.

Personnel

Additional musicians
released a cover of the song, with the title "To Make You Feel My Love", for his compilation album Greatest Hits Volume III. It was released as the album's lead single and reached number 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 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 of the 1998 film Hope Floats, along with a cover version by Trisha Yearwood as the first and last tracks. It was included first as the bonus track on Fresh Horses for Garth's first Limited Series 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 and a nomination for Bob Dylan for Best Country Song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Adele version

In 2008, British singer-songwriter Adele recorded "Make You Feel My Love" for her debut studio album 19. 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 song on Adele's debut album 19; she either wrote or co-wrote all the others. "My manager is the biggest Dylan fan, and for ages, he'd been bugging me to listen to the song, because I hadn't heard it before," she told Premiere Networks. "I was being quite defiant against it. I said, 'I don't want a cover on my album. It kind of implies that I'm incapable of writing enough of my own songs for my first record.' And then I heard it in New York when he played it for me, and it just really touched me. It's cheesy, but I think it's just a stunning song, and it really just summed up everything that I'd been trying to write in my songs."
Piano is played by Neil Cowley and Adele is credited with bass.

Critical reception

According to Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy, the version expresses Adele's affection for the song, "with just piano as backing, her dreamy, passionate vocals are allowed to shine". According to The Guardians Dave Simpson, with her "hushed delivery", Adele makes the song "her own".
In January 2013, Heart Radio 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 two years after its release after being performed by several contestants on the seventh series of The X Factor. 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 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, two years after its initial release.
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.
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 Adele singing the song in London Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf. It was directed by Mat Kirkby.

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. One segment of the show, which went viral, featured a prank in which eight Adele impersonators were invited to audition at the Wimbledon Theatre 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 soundtrack 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 entitled Songs for the Philippines. In October 2013 the song was used in the third week of Strictly Come Dancing as part of the "Love Week" theme.
During a concert at London's O2 Arena on March 22, 2016, the day of the Brussels bombings, Adele dedicated a performance of the song to the victims of the attacks.
In other television appearances in the UK and US, the song was used in:
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
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32
Digital download
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32
  2. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32
CD single
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32
  2. "Painting Pictures" – 3:33
19 version
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32
19 Deluxe version
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:52
Chimes of Freedom live version
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 4:04
Live at the Royal Albert Hall live version
  1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:48

    Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

"Make You Feel My Love" has also been recorded by:
album studio Nikita
Josh Kelley's version appeared on
Two covers of the song were featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 film Hope Floats.