You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (1979)

"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a song by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, produced by Harvey Fuqua and Sylvester, and released by Fantasy Records as the second single from the singer's fourth album, Step II (1978). The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in 1978, as the B-side of his previous single "Dance (Disco Heat)", before it was officially being released in December. It rose to the number one position on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is "one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco's great gift to pop music".

In 2003, Q Magazine included "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" 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 2023 and 2025, Billboard magazine ranked it among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" and "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time".

Origins

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 2018, Pitchfork Media featured the song in their list of "50 Songs That Define the Last 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride". 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". Same year, American DJ and producer Kevin Saunderson ranked it among "The 10 Best Disco Records of All Time", adding, "Sylvester's voice was so different – he has this range that was very unique as a male vocalist at that time. Kind of reminds you of Curtis Mayfield. Also the perfect vocal to compliment that track. It really bought chills to me when I heard this record."

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". The magazine praised its "magic moment"; "In the song‘s intro, as the song’s main hook starts to gather steam, a laser synth sound rises from out of nowhere, as if the song’s about to zoom off into outer space. And then it does." In 2024, Forbes ranked it No. 13 in their list of "The 30 Greatest Disco 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". In 2026, the song was included in Esquire's "25 Most American Songs of All Time".