As the ballad appears on the latest Bootleg Sessions box set, some of the many artists who have covered it explain why it tugs their heartstrings
hen Adele covered Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love on her debut album 19, her interpretation was a sparse piano ballad that exuded tortured romantic longing. “The lyrics are just amazing and summed up exactly what I’d been trying to say in my songs,”The heartbreak resonated. Originally released in October 2008, Adele’s take on Make You Feel My Love ended up a Top 5 UK hit two years later. But hers is hardly the only cover of the song to have had a lasting impact.
How did it become a standard? For author and journalist David Cantwell, it’s a reflection of Dylan’s later-career stylistic shift. “So much classic Dylan is known for its layered irony and hurtling verses,” he says. “But his later, slow to mid-tempo ballads align more closely to the Great American Songbook’s musical and emotional values.
Bryan Ferry turned in a lush, elegant take brimming with vulnerability and reverence on his 2007 album Dylanesque. He also gravitated toward the song’s directness. “I think this is one of his best songs: simple and direct, and it speaks straight from the heart. Maybe that explains why it has such universal appeal. Everyone can relate to it.”
Don Was, who co-produced Dylan’s 1990 album Under the Red Sky, also produced a version of the song by US country star Garth Brooks for the 1998 film Hope Floats. He praised its precise imagery and relatability but also observed that Dylan’s performance creates thematic and emotional ambiguity. “Does he believe he’s going to get the girl, or doesn’t he? You suspect he doesn’t … [But] Bob did this in his vocal – he walked the line. He never gave away whether he felt defeated or optimistic.
, Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun approaches the song from a confident place, her bold vocal delivery augmented by plucked acoustic guitar and shivering strings. “The love described in this song is so patient, unconditional,” she says. “It’s the ‘I’m there for you no matter what’ kind of love.”Photograph: CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty Images
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