To Make You Feel My Love

"To Make You Feel My Love" by Billy Joel

There is a special weight to a great song when it passes between great artists, and in 1997 Billy Joel took a brand-new Bob Dylan composition and made it his own. One of the most accomplished songwriters of his generation chose to interpret the work of another, delivering a tender, understated ballad of devotion. "To Make You Feel My Love" found Joel in a reflective mode, lending his warm voice to a song destined to become a modern standard.

A Master Interprets a Master

By 1997, Billy Joel had long since secured his place as one of the great American songwriters and performers, the man behind a vast catalog of beloved hits. The song he chose to record here was written by Bob Dylan, who included his own version on his acclaimed album Time Out of Mind that same year. Billy Joel's recording was actually released before Dylan's own version, making him one of the first to introduce the song to the public. For an artist of Joel's stature to interpret a Dylan composition was a meeting of two legendary talents.

A Ballad of Pure Devotion

Musically, Joel's version is a gentle, piano-led ballad that strips the song down to its emotional essence. There is no flash, no grand production, only the warmth of his voice and the simple beauty of the melody. The arrangement lets the words and the sentiment carry the weight, trusting in the strength of the songwriting. Joel's interpretation is intimate and heartfelt, a tender promise of unwavering love. It is the sound of a seasoned artist who knows that sometimes the most powerful approach is the most restrained.

Its Chart Run

The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 on August 16, 1997, at number 54, and it reached its high point the following week. The song peaked at number 50 on August 23, 1997, and held that position for several weeks before slipping, ultimately spending 9 weeks on the chart. While the chart numbers were modest, the song became a lasting part of Joel's repertoire and helped launch one of the most-covered ballads of the following decades.

A Late-Career Reflection

By the time he recorded this song, Billy Joel was entering a reflective phase of his career, one in which he would soon step back from writing and releasing pop albums altogether. Choosing to interpret a Dylan composition rather than write his own carried a certain symbolism, the gesture of an established artist paying homage and finding fresh inspiration in another's words. There is humility in that choice, a willingness to serve a great song rather than insist on his own. The recording finds Joel in a contemplative, generous mood, more interested in honoring a beautiful piece of writing than in showcasing himself. That quiet confidence, the security to step aside and let the song speak, is the mark of an artist with nothing left to prove.

Two Songwriting Giants

The pairing of these two names gives the recording an added resonance. Bob Dylan and Billy Joel represent different but equally towering traditions in American songwriting, the one a poet of restless invention, the other a craftsman of melody and narrative. To hear Joel sing Dylan's words is to witness a conversation between two of the form's masters. The song itself, plain and direct, sits a little outside Dylan's usual style, which may be part of why it translated so naturally to Joel's warm, melodic sensibility. The meeting of these two sensibilities produced something gentle and enduring.

A Standard Is Born

In the broader story of the song, Joel's version was an important early chapter. The composition would go on to be recorded by countless artists and become a genuine modern standard, beloved at weddings and treasured by listeners around the world. Joel's role in introducing it gives his recording a special place, a moment when one master songwriter helped carry another's creation out into the world. It remains a graceful highlight of his later career.

Press play and let that tender piano carry the promise, and you will hear one legend honoring the work of another.

"To Make You Feel My Love" — Billy Joel's singular moment on the 1990s charts.