The hit single “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt is from the Nineties. Raitt recorded the song for her eleventh studio album, Luck of the Draw, which was released in 1991, and the single followed that same year.
The song was written by country songwriters Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin. They first conceived it as a faster bluegrass-style number, but its emotional force emerged when they slowed the arrangement into the intimate ballad now associated with Raitt’s recording. Bruce Hornsby contributed the memorable piano part.
The recording became one of Raitt’s signature songs and reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It is sometimes remembered as an early-1990s adult-contemporary standard rather than a blues release, but Raitt’s blues background is central to its restrained vocal delivery and phrasing.
A common mix-up is confusing the song’s release decade with later covers and performances. Bonnie Raitt’s original is firmly a 1991 recording, making the Nineties the correct decade.