You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

The song was originally recorded as a mid-tempo piano-driven gospel song; however, after producer Patrick Cowley saw a rehearsal of the song at San Francisco's City Club, he offered to remix the song. The result was one of the pioneering disco records using some electronic instrumentation and effects, following closely on "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer which heavily used electronic instrumentation ahead of its time. These 1970s songs using electronic instrumentation would have an influence on 1980s and 1990s dance music, which in turn, would have an influence on dance music in the next century. ==Chart performance==

The song was Sylvester's first top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1978. In Sylvester's home country, the single was his second top 40 hit, peaking at No. 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1979. The song also reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. A 12" single was released in 1978, with "Dance (Disco Heat)" as the A-side and "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" as the B-side, and these two extended dance mixes proved to be very popular in dance clubs at the time. The two songs held down the top spot on the Billboard Dance/Disco chart for six weeks in August and September 1978. These two songs helped to establish Sylvester's career as a noted disco and dance music performer, both in the US and abroad. ==Impact and legacy==

In 1994, French DJ Laurent Garnier named "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" one of his favourites of all time, saying, "Amazing powerful hi-NRG. He's got a wicked voice — the vocals are beautiful, more than anything else he's done. I heard first in Italy around the time of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'." In October 2000, VH1 ranked it No. 14 in their list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs". In 2003, Q Magazine ranked it No. 677 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2019, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2020, Daily Mirror ranked "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" No. 13 in their "Top 50 Happiest Songs Ever" list. In 2021, Rolling Stone included it in their list of "500 Best Songs of All Time" at No. 399. In 2022, they ranked it No. 39 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". The same year, Time Out ranked it No. 8 in their list of "The 50 Best Gay Songs to Celebrate Pride All Year Long". In October 2023, Billboard ranked "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" No. 428 in their "Best Pop Songs of All Time". In March 2025, Billboard ranked it No. 17 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time", while in June same year, it was ranked No. 2 in their "The 100 Greatest LGBTQ+ Anthems of All Time". ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Jimmy Somerville version==

British singer Jimmy Somerville, formerly of the bands Bronski Beat and Communards, released a cover of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" in 1989. His version of the song was produced by Stephen Hague and also received substantial club play, peaking at number five on the UK Singles Chart in January 1990. Critical reception Bill Coleman from Billboard magazine described the song as a "unashamedly hi-NRG/pop cover", noting that it marked Somerville's debut as a solo singer. Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote that the song is "an obvious choice for Somerville" and added further that he performs it with "such raw enthusiasm that his version is easily as good as the original. The basic difference is that the backing is tighter and cleaner-a punchy brass riff has been added and there is a video (that mixes fun and gay politics to good effect)." In his review of the song, David Giles from Music Week stated that the singer "makes a very fine job at it." To Tim Southwell of Record Mirror, this song was "more disco-pop Europa-style", but considered it "somewhat tepid compared to Somerville's duet with June Miles-Kingston "Comment te dire adieu". Music video A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Steve McLean. It features Somerville, backed by dancers, performing the song at a planet in front of volcanic craters. The video also features archive footage of Harvey Milk and Sylvester, as well as astronauts. The video was later made available on YouTube in 2017 and had generated more than 8 million views as of August 2025. Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications and sales In France, the single reportedly sold at least 100,000 copies. ==Byron Stingily version==

Chicago-born house music singer Byron Stingily, formerly of the band Ten City, recorded a cover of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" in 1997. Like Sylvester's original recording, Stingily's cover version of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" (produced by UK music producer Damien Mendis) went to number-one on the American Billboard dance chart, where it spent one week atop the chart in March 1998. Although there have been instances where the same song, recorded by two different artists, has reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart ("Don't Leave Me This Way" first by Thelma Houston in 1976 and then the Communards with Sarah Jane Morris in 1986 is one example), it is still a fairly rare occurrence. This version also reached number 13 in the UK Pan-European magazine Music & Media felt the cover "stays close to the original (sampled here), but doesn't sound at all dated." A reviewer from Music Week gave it four out of five, concluding, "The falsetto house king's cover of the Sylvester disco classic hits all the right (high) notes, and could see chart success." A reviewer from Vibe noted that "it's deliciously ironic that the defining moment in Byron Stingily's solo debut, The Purist, occurs during the climax of Sylvester's evergreen". The magazine added that Stingily "whips through a vamp that eerily duplicates the late disco belter's primal intensity." Charts ==Other notable versions==

In 1991, actress-comedian Sandra Bernhard recorded her own version of the single, which is a tribute to Sylvester, on her album Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One). A series of 12" remix singles was released in 1994 by Epic Records' 550 Music imprint, who also signed Bernhard and picked up her album for a major push that same year. It peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, and #86 on the UK Singles Chart in late 1994. ==Appearances in other media==

• The song was used for Danny DeVito's character's Officer Roy Goodbody's strip dance routine in the 2004 Friends season 10 episode "The One Where The Stripper Cries". • The song was featured in a 2017 Candy Crush commercial. Beginning in June 2021, it was also used in an advertisement for the Paco Rabanne cologne PHANTOM. • The song is featured on the 2021 dance rhythm game Just Dance 2022. • The song was used during a "Lip Sync for Your Life" between Bob the Drag Queen and Derrick Barry in the 2016 8th season episode "RuPaul Book Ball" of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. • The song was used as the closing theme of the 1983 pilot for the 1984 NBC game show, Hot Potato. • In May 2022, a remixed version was released by Solardo and Comanavago. • In October 2025, the song was used in a Starbucks commercial for the return of the pumpkin spice latte ==References==