During a period of about 12 months spanning 2005 and 2006, Adams was a copious smoker of opium. Speaking to UK newspaper The Guardian in 2011, he noted this song was written while influenced by the effect of the addictive drug. "I fully understand when people say Edgar Allen Poe used to smoke this stuff and have visions," he said. "I wrote the entire song 'How Do You Keep Love Alive' without writing a word down, and I played it on piano. And I've tried to understand the chord pattern ever since, because I can't f---in' play it."