Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer, songwriter and slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country. In 1989 after several years of critical acclaim but little commercial success she had a major return to public prominence with the release of her album Nick of Time. The following two albums Luck of the Draw (1991) and Longing in Their Hearts (1994) were also multi-million sellers generating several hit singles, including "Something to Talk About", "Love Sneakin' Up on You", and the ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" (with Bruce Hornsby on piano). Raitt has received 10 Grammy Awards. She is listed as number 50 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 89 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Raitt was born in Burbank, California. She is the daughter of Broadway musical star John Raitt and his first wife, pianist Marjorie Haydock, and was raised in the Quaker tradition. She began playing guitar at an early age. Later she gained notice for her bottleneck-style guitar playing. Raitt says she played "a little at school and at [a summer] camp" called Camp Regis-Applejack in New York.
Bonnie Raitt is the self-titled debut album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1971 (see 1971 in music). A straight-blues affair, it was recorded at an empty summer camp on Enchanted Island, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis on Lake Minnetonka. "We recorded live on four tracks because we wanted a more spontaneous and natural feeling in the music", Raitt wrote in the album's liner notes, "a feeling often sacrificed when the musicians know they can overdub their part on a separate track until it's perfect."
Though album sales were modest, Bonnie Raitt was warmly received by rock critics. "[A]n unusual collection of songs performed by an unusual assortment of musicians", wrote Rolling Stone. "Raitt is a folkie by history but not by aesthetic", wrote Robert Christgau in his Consumer Guide column. "She includes songs from Steve Stills, the Marvelettes, and a classic feminist blues singer named Sippie Wallace because she knows the world doesn't end with acoustic song-poems and Fred McDowell. An adult repertoire that rocks with a steady roll, and she's all of twenty-one years old."
Darkness settles on the ground
Leaves the day stumbling blind
Coming to a quiet close
And maybe just in time
We almost lost the heart to know
How to keep our best in mind
We almost lost the heart to know
How to keep our best in mind
Time has turned an angry face
Throws a dark eye back to sea
What will pass for mercy now
We practice unforgivingly
As if might and will make right
Or either one will make us free
As if might and will make right
Or either one will make us free
Lovers laugh and cross this way
Weaving out and into the street
It seems we never were so young
Or it was never quite so sweet
But the world is always beautiful
When it's seen in full retreat
The worst of life is beautiful
As it slips away in full retreat
God only knows that we can we do
No more or less than he'll allow
God only knows that we mean well
God knows that we just don't know how
But I'll try to be your light in love
And pray that is enough for now
I'll try to be your light in love
And pray that is enough for now
I'll pray that is enough for now
I'll pray that is enough for now
I'll pray that is enough for now