9 Popular Songs You Didn't Know Were Based On Real News Stories

2. Bonnie Raitt - "I Can't Make You Love Me"

Is there any phrase that more perfectly encapsulates the feeling of unrequited love than the one folk-country singer Bonnie Raitt used to title her most lasting ballad, "I Can't Make You Love Me"? If there is, don't tell me. (Unless you've brought a fresh box of tissues.) Written by Nashville mainstays Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, the pensive ballad came to be after Reid spotted an article in the newspaper about a man who was arrested for drunkenly shooting up his girlfriend's vehicle.

When going before the judge for sentencing, the man was asked if he had learned anything following the incident. His reply: "I learned, Your Honor, that you can't make a woman love you if she don't." You'd think the source of such a heartbreaking song would be a little more...not about firing bullets into someone's car.

'Cause I can't make you love meIf you don'tYou can't make your heart feelSomething it won't