Valentine's Day 2013: 10 Painful Breakup Songs

3. I Can't Make You Love Me - Bon Iver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3VjaCy5gck This list was made for Bon Iver. It's almost a given that one of his tracks would be on here, the only issue therefore would be which one? In honesty, the entire of his first album "For Emma- Forever Ago" deserves to be on here, but then again it was written when he escaped into the woods of Wisconsin after a break up... so I call cheating! Regardless of this and the beauty of every single track on that album, it is in fact the cover of a song originally recorded by Bonnie Raitt from Bon Iver's self entitled second album that eventually got the nod. There have been so many popular versions of I Can't Make You Love Me: Adele, George Michael, Prince and of course the Bonnie Raitt Original, each of which are often championed as 'the best version'. For me though, this accolade goes to Bon Iver hands down. Like Damien Rice, there is a natural sorrow to Bon Iver's vocals that are simply perfect for the lyrics in the song. I Can't Make You Love Me is so powerful on multiple levels, it's a breakup song, it's a song about unrequited love and it's a song about giving up. If you've just broken up with someone and you are considering listening to this, then all I can say is good luck to you.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Music Editor for What Culture! Follow me on Twitter: @CurtisEvans90