"Love, Reign o'er Me" is a song by English rock band The Who. Written by guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend, it was released on 23 October 1973 as the second single from the band's sixth studio album and second rock opera, Quadrophenia. It is the final song on the album, and has been a concert staple for years. The song peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #54 on Cash Box.[1]

Origin and recording

"Love, Reign o'er Me", along with "Is It in My Head?" also from Quadrophenia, date back to 1972. Both songs were originally intended to be part of the unreleased autobiographical album, Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock!, which later evolved into Quadrophenia.

Lyrics

"Love, Reign o'er Me" concerns the main character of Quadrophenia, Jimmy, having a personal crisis. With nothing left to live for, he finds a spiritual redemption in pouring rain. As Townshend described the song:


[It] refers to Meher Baba's one time comment that rain was a blessing from God; that thunder was God's Voice. It's another plea to drown, only this time in the rain. Jimmy goes through a suicide crisis. He surrenders to the inevitable, and you know, you know, when it's over and he goes back to town he'll be going through the same shit, being in the same terrible family situation and so on, but he's moved up a level. He's weak still, but there's a strength in that weakness. He's in danger of maturing.[2]

Release and reception

"Love, Reign o'er Me" was released as a 7" single. The single release version of this song is shorter than the album track, missing the introductory falling rain sound and the first piano intro and tympani and gong crash, slightly different sequence of the lyrics and ends on string synthesizers with piano rather than the drum solo, guitar, gong and brass explosion as on the album. The single was released with a B-side titled "Water". The song peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the US, the single was released in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Frontman Roger Daltrey's vocal on the track has been widely praised; Mark Deming of Allmusic noted "Quadrophenia captured him at the very peak of his powers, and "Love, Reign o'er Me" is one moment where his golden-haired rock-god persona truly works and gives this song all the force it truly deserves."[3]

The song was also featured in the 1979 film based on the Quadrophenia album as well as the soundtrack album. The version included on the soundtrack features an added string arrangement and the ending is a few seconds shorter than the album version. The song served as inspiration for the title of the 2007 film, Reign Over Me, and was also featured extensively throughout the film.

Live performances

"Love, Reign o'er Me" was first performed live on the Who's Quadrophenia tour from 1973--74, but it was dropped after the tour. It was returned to the band's setlist for the 1982 farewell tour of North America. The band performed it again at its one-off performance at Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England on 13 July 1985 and it remained in the act for their 1989 reunion tour. When The Who performed Quadrophenia in its entirety in the summer of 1996, the band was joined by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on the song. At The Who's 1 July 2002 concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California (the first after bassist John Entwistle's death), it was brought back, and it was most recently performed on the band's 2010 Royal Albert Hall Quadrophenia concert for the Teenage Cancer Trust. At the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, the tribute to Townshend and Daltrey included a widely-praised performance of "Love, Reign o'er Me" by soul singer Bettye LaVette.[4] Live performances of "Love, Reign o'er Me" can be found on the live albums Who's Last, Greatest Hits Live and Join Together.

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