Chris Reali

I started writing “In The Name of Love” 27 years ago on February 25, 1996.

I have no memory of writing “In The Name of Love” other than the fact that the lyrics are in my notebook. February 1996 was both a dark and exciting time for me. Dark because the relationship I was in had disintegrated, and that’s what clearly inspired these lyrics. “We were close, like mother to child. Then you changed the rules and after a while, you changed your mind.” The “I don’t love you” lyric, which didn’t make it into the final song, is significant. I can’t recall if those words were actually spoken between myself and my girlfriend or just implied. It doesn’t really matter because the relationship ended when I moved to Portland, OR in March to live with my good friend, Eric, which was the exciting part. The next page in my sketchbook literally says “Portland ” So “In The Name of Love” was the last song that I wrote while living in NY (until I moved back to NY a few years later).

On October 6, 1996, I went back and wrote the lyric that became the bridge for the song: “How many nights alone do I spend…” I’m also intrigued by that fact that I initially crossed out what became the second verse: “You’ve taken my heart. So why not pride, too?…” I’m guessing that once I came up with the bridge lyric, I realized that the second verse wasn’t so bad after all. Who knows? I can’t recall all the details. One of my favorite parts of “In The Name of Love” is the B-flat, flat-5 chord during the verse. It’s a very unstable chord, which helps create tension within the song. And for those of you who are into music theory, “In The Name of Love” never actually resolves; it’s in the key of F, and the final chord is C major. Like love, sometimes you’re left hanging.

By the time we recorded the song in 2005, I definitely had an idea of how I wanted the track to sound: sparse. I recorded the rhythm guitar using J.P.’s Collings D2H. And I just melt every time I hear J.P.’s 8-string enter after the lyric “and after a while…” Beautiful. I played my Fender (Mexican) Jazz bass using a volume pedal to create the swells. Tom called it, “an attack-less bass.” Deemphasizing the downbeat gives the track a floating, somewhat uneven quality. Although subtle, there is also a keyboard part, a Wurlitzer with tremolo, that emerges during the solo, towards the end of the track.

It’s funny how breakups and heartbreak often fuel the creative juices.