In a note posted on his website, Springsteen wrote about how he was energized to create a new album soon after Magic as a result of recording this song. He explained: "During the last weeks of mixing Magic, we recorded a song called 'What Love Can Do.' It was sort of a 'love in the time of Bush' meditation. It was a great track but felt more like a first song of new record rather than something that would fit on Magic. So our producer Brendan O'Brien said, 'Hey, let's make another one right now!' I thought, no, I haven't done that since my first two records came out in the same year. And usually I don't write that quickly. But that night I went back to my hotel in Atlanta and over the next week, I wrote several songs ("This Life," "My Lucky Day," "Life Itself," along with "Good Eye" and "Tomorrow Never Knows") that formed the beginnings of our new album. Excited by the sounds we made on Magic I found there was more than enough fuel for the fire to keep going. Brendan and I demo'd these songs before we left the studio and agreed we'd somehow find time during the touring year to get this record made."