When Adele recorded “Make You Feel My Love” in 2008 for her debut album 19, many of her fans assumed she wrote it. After all, the British superstar-to-be had written or co-written all the other songs on that disc.
However, more cosmopolitan ears in the crowd knew the truth, that this song had a distinguished pedigree all its own.
In fact, it was Bob Dylan who wrote “Make You Feel My Love” for his 1997 Time Out of Mind album, and immediately the song attracted an illustrious following.
Among the artists in the next decade to cover the tune on their own albums were Billy Joel (1997), Garth Brooks (1998), Trisha Yearwood (1998), Joan Osbourne (2000), Mary Black (2005), Maria Muldaur (2006), Bryan Ferry (2007) and Neil Diamond (2008).
Meanwhile, Bob himself performed the song live more than 300 times in concerts between 1997 and 2019 on his Never Ending Tour.
“It is one of the few songs,” says Wikipedia, “to have achieved the status of becoming a ‘standard’ in the 21st century, having been covered by more than 450 different artists.”
Our Take on the Tune
So, The Flood is pretty late to the party on this one. We didn’t start playing it until earlier this year.
It all began last fall, when Pamela and Charlie Bowen trekked to Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center to see a road company performance of Girl from the North Country. This Tony-award-winning musical centers on the music and lyrics of 28 Dylan songs written over the past 60 years.
The Bowens sat transfixed for the entire performance. Their ears especially perked up at the start of the second act when the characters of Mrs. Neilsen and Mrs. Burke stopped time in its tracks with their stunning rendition of “Make You Feel My Love.”
All the way home to Huntington the next day, Charlie simply couldn’t get the melody out of his mind. Within a week or so, he had roughed out an arrangement, knowing full well that it would be fleshed out as soon as he shared it with the guys. Here, from last week’s rehearsal, is where that work stands now.
More Dylan? Step Right This Way!
By the way, Bob’s tunes have been central to The Flood since its beginnings. If you’d like a deep dive into the band’s Dylan repertoire, check out this free Bob Dylan playlist in the Radio Floodango music streaming feature:
"Make You Feel My Love"