song of the year

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Bonnie Raitt says she’s ‘been so deeply moved’ by outpouring love after major Grammys win
After winning song of the year, the singer thanked those who have shared their stories and experience with organ donation.

on February 11, 2023 No comments

The 2023 Grammy Awards was a night to remember for Bonnie Raitt.

The singer-songwriter won song of the year for “Just Like That,” surprising audiences and even herself. Raitt, 73 — who was up against artists like Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Beyoncé — was visibly shocked to hear her name being announced during the Feb. 5 telecast.

Her win touched many people’s hearts including those who related to the song’s lyrics, which were inspired by a true story about an organ donor.

Bonnie Raitt is shocked to learn she won song of the year Grammy: ‘Are you serious?’

“I’m just totally humbled. I really appreciate it,” she told the audience.

www.today.com

In a Feb. 10 message posted on her website, Raitt began by sharing how she wanted to respond to “the incredible outpouring of messages that have come in” since her big win.

Read Raitt’s full letter below:

I wanted to respond to the incredible outpouring of messages that have come in since my song, “Just Like That,” won the Grammy award last Sunday night for Song of the Year.

I’ve been so deeply moved, often to tears, reading the personal stories of hundreds of you, some of whom have had no familiarity with me or my music before I won that Grammy and were curious why this song had won. After listening, many of you wrote that you were moved to tears, even inspired to share your own heart-wrenching stories of either having your loved one’s life saved by an organ donation, or having decided at the height of the terrible shock and loss of losing a beloved, that you would donate their organs so that others could live.

These stories and your responses to my song have moved me as much as anything I can remember and I want to thank you so much for this gift. So many messages from nurses and doctors in the field involved with transplants as well as people who were tragically not able to get an organ in time to save their loved one’s life. There are messages from the family members of people who wanted their organs to be donated, but are now living with the guilt when that wish, for whatever reason, was not able to be fulfilled.. These stories run the gamut and I’m just blown open by the vulnerability and power of each of them.

I am so honored that my song and the original news story that inspired it, are eliciting such a deep emotional response for so many. The story behind the song is this: A few years ago I saw a segment on the evening TV news where they followed a woman who was meeting the man who had received her son’s heart for the first time. It was very emotional, but when he invited her to put her head on his chest and listen to her son’s heart, I just lost it. I knew after it stayed with me for weeks, that I wanted to write my own story, inspired so much by John Prine’s music and his beautiful “Angel From Montgomery,” which I’ve sung every show since hearing it in the early 70’s. I wrote about a fictional woman, Olivia Zand, torn by grief and guilt at the loss of her young son, who finds redemption and grace through the loving act of another.

May the song bring about even more awareness and motivation for more of us to support organ donation registration and infrastructure — removing obstacles that have hindered helping thousands connecting to facilitate this miraculous gift of life and help bring comfort to those suffering such tragic loss. I’ve included a link here to organdonor.gov to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor in an effort to more directly connect to and support the 104,085 men, women, and children currently on the national transplant waiting list.

Thank you all so much again for your incredible responses and sharing your beautiful stories. More than any award, fame or commercial success, knowing what my song means to so many may be the greatest gift of all.

Blessings to you,
Bonnie

Bonnie Raitt’s song of the year spotlights organ donation. Too often, we waste that gift.

Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning song was inspired by a life saved by an organ donor. But 20% of organs from selfless donors are not transplanted.

www.usatoday.com

The story stayed with her for weeks and inspired her to write “Just Like That.” She also gained inspiration from John Prine’s music and his song “Angel From Montgomery.” The two musicians were longtime collaborators and friends. Prine, who died in 2020, wrote the song in 1971, with Raitt covering to acclaim since 1974.

Additionally, the singer noted her message was inspired by an op-ed written by Dr. Maureen McBride for USA Today that was published the day before. She also encouraged people to become organ donors.

Bonnie’s response to the outpouring of emotional messages to “Just Like That.” | BonnieRaitt.com

The Official Website of Bonnie Raitt

“More than any award, fame or commercial success, knowing what my song means to so many may be the greatest gift of all,” she concluded, before directing people to the comments section of her lyric video to read people’s inspiring and heartbreaking stories.

Raitt also won two additional Grammys that night in the best American roots song and best Americana performance categories, bringing her total to 13 total wins.

Mom hears late son’s heartbeat again – in organ recipient’s body

Anna Lewis was able to hear the beating of her late son’s heart, which was donated to another man who desperately needed it to live.

www.today.com

About The Author

Liz Calvario

Liz Calvario is a Los Angeles-based reporter and editor for TODAY.com who covers entertainment, pop culture and trending news. She enjoys rocking a stylish outfit, a good cup of coffee, traveling and the soulful sounds of the Backstreet Boys.

Source: © Copyright Today

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Top 10 Bonnie Raitt Songs

on February 10, 2023 No comments

by Tina Benitez-Eves

Bonnie Raitt was born into music on November 8, 1949, in Burbank, California. Growing up with her father, Broadway actor John Raitt, and mother, pianist and singer, Marge Goddard, performing was already in her genes.

By the time she was 8, Raitt was learning to play guitar by listening to the 1950s folk revivalists before transitioning into the blues of Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Son House, among many others.

Moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts after high school—where she studied social relations and African studies at the Radcliffe College of Harvard University—Raitt soon started hitting the east coast folk and blues scene, playing festivals and cafes before landing her first record deal. Raitt released her self-titled debut in 1971, a collection of some bluesier covers and two tracks she wrote “Thank You” and “Finest Lovin’ Man.”

Throughout the decades, Raitt would continue releasing albums nearly every year, eventually breaking through in 1977 with her cover of Del Shannon’s 1961 hit “Runaway,” off her sixth album, Sweet Forgiveness. By the 1980s, Raitt’s music had already evolved into her own brew of blues, soul, and folk, and little polished pop.

*Santa Cruz Blues Festival – May 2015* © Susan J. Weiand /Shore Fire Media

As she struggled with her own drug and alcohol addiction before getting sober in 1987, the end of the ’80s held another breakthrough for Raitt, commercially, when her tenth album, Nick of Time, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Nick of Time also earned Raitt three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

Luck of the Draw in 1991 brought more hits to Raitt with “Something to Talk About” and the ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” In 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and continued to hold her place within the charts with her 2002 release, Silver Lining, and her 16th album Slipstream peaking at No. 6 on the charts in 2012, followed by Dig In Deep in 2016.

Several years passed and following the death of her friend, John Prine, during the pandemic, Raitt revisited some tracks she always meant to record and newer ones she wrote, inspired by the great art of Prine’s story songs. Released in 2022, Just Like That… earned Raitt three more Grammys, including Song of the Year for the title track.

Flipping through her extensive catalog spanning more than 50 years, here’s a chronological look at just 10 of Raitt’s best songs from 1972 through 2022.

1. “Love Me Like a Man” (1972)
Written by Chris Smither

Already in her early 20s, Raitt was well beyond her years in love by her second album, Give It Up, in 1972. Though Raitt delivers the bluesy track “Love Me Like A Man” from the perspective of a woman who knows what she wants, the song was written by a man, her then-collaborator and guitarist Chris Smither. “Love Me Like a Man” showed off Raitt’s wailing vocals and guitar licks, naturally channeling some of her heroes like Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley.

Man I’ve been seeing, baby
Got their soul up on a shelf
No, they could never love me
Can’t even love himself

But, I want someone to love me
Baby, I want a one who understands
Who won’t put himself above me
Who can love me like a man

2. “Angel of Montgomery” (1974)
Written by John Prine

“I knew I wanted to cut ‘Angel From Montgomery‘ the minute I heard that song,” revealed Raitt in 2022. The song, first released on John Prine‘s 1971 debut, was later covered by Raitt on her fourth album, Streelights, in 1974. “We played the Philadelphia Folk Festival together, and we toured together in those early days before either one of us had a band,” added Raitt. “He [Prine] loved the way I did ‘Angel.’”

To this day, Raitt regularly has “Angel From Montgomery” on her set list and revealed that the song has shifted in meaning for her throughout the decades.

“Over the years, I’ve sung it for myself, for my mom, for her generation,” added Raitt. “Lately I’ve been singing it for all the women around the world who don’t get to go to school or get out of a bad marriage or wear a short skirt or any of that stuff. The fact he could be so insightful about being in a marriage like that — the dead zone. Especially as a young feminist, I never wanted to get married but that song really nailed it for me.”

If dreams were lightning
And thunder were desire
This old house would’ve burned down
A long time ago

Make me an angel
That flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster
Of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing
That I can hold on to
To believe in this livin’
Is just a hard way to go

Bonnie Raitt shared more on John Prine’s inspiration on songwriting HERE.

3. “Thing Called Love” (1989)
Written by John Hiatt

After a slow-moving decade of releases and hitting rock bottom with her addiction, Raitt returned sober and owned each track on her tenth album, Nick of Time, navigating love as she does best on the more flirtatious “Thing Called Love.” In the music video, Raitt convinced her friend actor and musician Dennis Quaid to play her boyfriend.

“He said yes, and all my fears went away,” said Raitt of Quaid. “Basically I was blushing the whole way, throwin’ it back at him, and he was suckin’ on a toothpick. The combination of all those things made [the album] ‘Nick of Time’ an amazing breakthrough.”

I ain’t some icon carved out of soap
Sent here to clean up your reputation
Baby, you know you ain’t no Prince Charming
We can live in fear or act out of hope
For some kind of peaceful situation
Baby, how come the cry of love is so alarming

4. “Nick of Time” (1989)
Written by Bonnie Raitt

The title track off Raitt’s tenth album Nick of Time was written by Raitt while on a cabin retreat in Mendocino, California. Working remotely, she recorded a demo of the song before taking it to the studio with producer Don Was.

Raitt said the song “came from a part of me that hadn’t yet seen the light of day.” She added, “I wanted to dig deep and honor the changes in my life. Writing it gave me a sense of confidence and self-awareness that helped me break through some stifling self-doubt. While writing the song, instead of comparing myself to greats like Jackson Browne and Randy Newman and then giving up, I was just writing for myself, as a gift for the miracle that had happened.”

The track earned Raitt a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, while the album won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Album of the Year.

I see my folks are getting on
And I watch their bodies change
I know they see the same in me
And it makes us both feel strange

No matter how you tell yourself
It’s what we all go through
Those lines are pretty hard to take
When they’re staring back at you

5. “Something to Talk About” (1991)
Written by Shirley Eikhard

Surpassing the success of her previous album, Nick of Time, Raitt returned with her 11th album, Luck of the Draw, and her uptempo hit “Something to Talk About.” Written by Canadian singer-songwriter Shirley Eikhard, the song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Raitt’s highest-charting song, and her only single to reach the top 10 of that chart.

“Still burning bright,” wrote Raitt in the liner notes of Luck of the Draw, which she dedicated to her friend, the late blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died a year before the release of the album. Vaughan helped convinced Raitt to get sober years earlier.

People are talking, talking ’bout people
I hear them whisper, you won’t believe it
They think we’re lovers kept under cover
I’ll just ignore it, but they keep saying
We laugh just a little too loud
Stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they’re seeing something we don’t, darlin’

6. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (1991)
Written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin

Accompanied by Bruce Hornsby on keys, Raitt’s lush vocals on the Luck of the Draw ballad, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” pulls anyone listening into the pain of unrequited love. Initially, Nashville songwriters Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin were considering giving the song to Bette Midler or Linda Ronstadt before it landed with Raitt, who co-produced the track—and the entire album—with Don Was.

“‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ is no picnic,” said Raitt of performing the song live. “I love that song, so does the audience. So it’s almost a sacred moment when you share that, that depth of pain with your audience. Because they get really quiet, and I have to summon some other place in order to honor that space.”

‘Cause I can’t make you love me if you don’t
You can’t make your heart feel something it won’t
Here in the dark, in these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I’ll feel the power
But you won’t, no you won’t
‘Cause I can’t make you love me, if you don’t

I’ll close my eyes, then I won’t see
The love you don’t feel when you’re holding me
Morning will come and I’ll do what’s right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight

7. “Circle Dance,” featuring David Crosby (1994)
Written by Bonnie Raitt

Another sentimental story, the electric piano-led “Circle Dance” was never released as a single off Raitt’s 12th album, Longing in Their Hearts, but stands out in its poignant message of how feelings, perceptions, and longing tend to circle back around. David Crosby can be heard singing backing harmonies throughout the song.

I’ll be home soon, that’s what you’d say
And a little kid believes
And after a while I learned that love
Must be a thing that leaves
I tried so hard just to hold you near
I was as good as I could be
And even when I had you here
You stayed so far from me

8. “The Ones We Couldn’t Be” (2016)
Written by Bonnie Raitt

Also never released as a single, the closing track on Raitt’s 17th album, Dig In Deep, is the most moving of the lot. Written by Raitt, “The Ones We Couldn’t Be” is a story of regrets over familial and love relationships gone awry over misunderstandings and a lack of forgiveness.

I wrap the dark around me
There’s no solace here tonight
There’s just wishing and regret for company
My glass is raised for all the ways
We tried to get it right
And I’m sorry for the ones we couldn’t be
I’m so sorry for the ones we couldn’t be

9. “Down the Hall” (2022)
Written by Bonnie Raitt

In 2018, Raitt read a story in The New York Times Magazine about a prison hospice program in Vacaville, California where inmates work as caregivers for fellow terminal convicts. Deeply moved by the intimate photographs and stories of volunteers devoting their time to those incarcerated at the end of their lives, Raitt wrote “Down the Hall.” Moving through lyrics, told from the perspective of the caretakers, “Down the Hall” closes Raitt’s 18th album, Just Like That…

I asked if they let family in
She said not really at the end
Truth is a lot don’t have someone, no friends or next of kin
The thought of those guys going out alone
It hit me somewhere deep
I asked could go sit with them
For some comfort and relief

10. “Just Like That” (2022)
Written by Bonnie Raitt

After watching a human interest segment on the news, Raitt was touched by the story of a woman who met the recipient of her son’s heart for the first time. The young man visited her unexpectedly and asked her if she would like to put her head on his chest so she could hear her son’s heart. “I just lost it,” Raitt shared in a 2022 interview with American Songwriter. “It was the most moving and surprising thing. I wasn’t expecting it. I vowed right then that I wanted to write a song about what that would take.”

Moved by the sacrifices families can make during one of the most difficult times, Raitt began writing “Just Like That.” In 2023, “Just Like That” picked up the Grammy for Song of the Year and Best Americana Roots Song.

He sat down and took a deeper breath
Then looked right in my face
I heard about the son you lost
How you left without a trace
I’ve spent years just trying to find you
So I could finally let you know
It was your son’s heart that saved me
And a life you gave us both

Read our full interview with Bonnie Raitt from 2022 HERE.

About The Author

Tina Benitez-Eves

Senior Writer

Obsessed with The Shirelles when she was a little girl, Tina would sing the legendary group’s hit “Soldier Boy” out the window of her Bronx, New York apartment to unsuspecting passersby, then duck when they looked up to find the source of the out-of-tune vocals. Growing up with parents playing everything from T. Rex to The Temptations on vinyl, throughout her career, and life, it all continued to come back to music for Tina. Moving through later addictions to new wave and pop, punk — even seeing The Ramones before they parted ways — and more post-punk and harder rock /metal, music became an entire soundtrack of Tina’s life — and remains one to this day. Singing was never in the cards for Tina, but writing was, and she jumped into early record reviews for her high school newspaper before studying journalism at NYU and entering her one of first “real” writing jobs as a reporter for the Village Voice in the late 1990s. A journalist for more than two decades, Tina has covered hard news, along with entertainment, art, pop culture, food, wine and spirits, health, travel and more. Throughout it all, the stories always retuned to music. Her words have appeared in Billboard, Men’s Journal, Wine Spectator, and other local and national newspapers, magazines, and online publications. And she’s still a lifelong fan of The Shirelles.

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Bonnie Raitt’s keyboardist a ‘fierce defender and fan of Winnipeg’

on February 8, 2023 No comments

WINNIPEG

by Danton Unger

Music has taken a Winnipeg-born keyboardist on a path stretching from New Orleans to New York and onto the stage with Grammy Award-winning artist Bonnie Raitt, but he has never forgotten his roots.

A proud Winnipegger – that is how Glenn Patscha describes himself while thinking back to his early memories in the city.

“I’m so proud that I came from Winnipeg, and I’m a fierce defender and fan of Winnipeg,” he told CTV News.

Patscha’s career started when he was a kid learning piano and playing in cover bands in Winnipeg where he was born and raised. In 1989 when he was 18, Patscha moved to New Orleans to study jazz on a scholarship with Ellis Marsalis.

From New Orleans to New York and eventually to Nova Scotia where he now lives, Patscha has been performing and recording with his own bands along with dozens of artists including The Holmes Brothers, Roger Waters, Willie Nelson and Rosanne Cash.

He can now add Bonnie Raitt to the list.

While playing with Marc Cohn (whom he still tours with), Patscha said they opened for the American blues icon and got along with her very well. In 2018, Raitt gave him a call and he has been working with her ever since, joining her band as a vocalist and keyboardist.

“I’ve always been a fan, so it was just kind of a natural fit,” Patscha said. “(Raitt) has had some of the greatest keyboardists there are playing with her, so it’s an honour to kind of be in that chair.”

Regardless of where his musical path has taken him, Patscha has kept his Winnipeg roots close.

Bonnie Raitt covers Manitoba band’s song on her new album

A Manitoba-based band is responsible for a new single on the new album of a music legend.

“My earliest life was in Winnipeg. That all seems like a long time ago, but I still call it home,” he said.

It is a hometown pride bolstered by Raitt’s win at the Grammys on Sunday for Best Americana Performance with ‘Made Up Mind‘ – a cover originally written and released by Winnipeg’s own Dave and Joey Landreth of The Bros. Landreth.

“I remember the first time I heard those guys as well and it just knocked me out,” Patscha said. “They’re not just a great band from Winnipeg, they’re one of the greatest bands there is.”

Patscha said the song has since become a regular show opener for Raitt and the rest of the band, and has quickly become a recognizable part of her repertoire.

‘Made Up Mind’ is included on her twenty-first album ‘Just Like That‘ – the title track of which also netted her the Grammys songwriter’s award for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song.

Bonnie Raitt wins Grammy for cover of Manitoba band-s song

by Kayla Rosen American singer Bonnie Raitt took home three Grammy Awards this weekend, including one for a cover she did of a Manitoba band’s song. On Sunday, Raitt won the Grammy for Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind,” a cover of The Bros. Landreth’s song from their 2012 album called “Let It Lie.” The cover appeared on Raitt’s 2022 album “Just Like That,” and marked a big milestone for the band, comprised of Joey and Dave Landreth.

To see Raitt’s work recognized at the Grammys over the weekend was an exciting moment for Patscha.

“I’m very kind of careful about the work that I choose, and I’m proud of most of it – I’m particularly proud of the work with Bonnie,” he said.

“She’s such a giant figure in the history of so many genres and has had such a long career, and to be even a small part of that is, as a fan, is an honour.”

About The Author

Danton Unger

Editorial Producer

Danton Unger joined CTV News Winnipeg as a news/writer producer in 2019.

The Winnipeg-based generalist writer is keen to cover all topics.

Before joining CTV News Winnipeg, Danton worked as a multi-media reporter intern at the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press. His work has appeared in various Postmedia newspapers across Canada including the National Post. Danton graduated with a major in journalism from Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

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