Bon Iver ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’

I remember watching Justin Vernon play Jimmy Fallon a couple of weeks ago, waiting expectantly for one of the many killer tracks from Bon Iver’s latest album. Maybe a little Towers? Or even the slowly building Holocene? Or possible the safer options, Perth or Calgary? But instead he played a song I had never heard before. It wasn’t what I had been expecting (or hoping for), but it was nevertheless utterly beautiful.

Turns out that it was a cover of the Bonnie Raitt song I Can’t Make You Love Me, with a little bit of another Raitt track, Nick Of Time, thrown in for good measure. Vernon’s version utilises a sparse piano piece to compliment his vocals in a similar vein to the way Bruce Hornsby plays piano on the original. The cover has now surfaced in studio form, as the B-side to the Calgary single.

It is of course amazing. It features the voice of Justin Vernon, what more do you need to know?

Man, there’s not enough Hornsby in my scene.