Give Me Your Name

Background

After Chester Bennington had split up with his ex-wife, Samantha Marie Olit, he went to a party where Ryan Shuck introduced him to Talinda Ann Bentley, a teacher who had modeled for Playboy twice during her college days. They instantly hit it off and Chester soon called a friend to say that he was going to marry the woman he had just met. Though his friend thought he had lost his mind, about a week-and-half after they met, she moved in with Chester. The two were married on December 31, 2005, and Bentley gave birth to their son three months later.

"Give Me Your Name" was written after the couple got engaged and Talinda asked Chester to write a song they could dance to at their wedding. "I had this acoustic guitar riff I had been playing with that was very mellow and I was like, Summon beautiful music in your mind. And it just came to me." The lyrics are about Chester's relationship with his now wife.

For being such a personal song, "Give Me Your Name" was never played live and wasn't even intended for the album. "Obviously I'm not a love song kind of guy, but I looked inside myself and those words came out. Truthfully, it was never supposed to be for the record; it was only intended for our wedding. But it came out so good that I thought, Hey, I should put this on the record. Maybe other people will use it for their weddings."

"Give Me Your Name" is Chester's favorite wedding song and also his favorite on Out Of Ashes.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Give Me Your Name	Out Of Ashes	4:56	2007-2009	October 13, 2009
Give Me Your Name	Demos	5:04			Home demo. Different background vocals. Released on LinkinPark:br for free download on March 20, 2018.
Give Me Your Name	Out Of Ashes Instrumentals	5:03	2007-2009		Official instrumental version.

Personnel

Dead By Sunrise

• Chester Bennington
• Ryan Shuck
• Amir Derakh
• Elias Andra
• Brandon Belsky
• Anthony "Fu" Valcic

Live

"Give Me Your Name" is the only Dead By Sunrise song to not be performed live. In an LPTV video released ahead of the band's Las Vegas show in October 9, and filmed during the band's rehearsals in late September, Chester says that Dead By Sunrise rehearsed every song on the album, meaning "Give Me Your Name" was at least rehearsed. The song was never added to a live setlist.

Production

• Howard Benson: producer
• Tom Whalley: executive producer
• Mike Plotnikoff: recorder
• Chris Lord-Alge: mixer

Lyrics

Album Version

Give me your smile, give me your name girl,
Give me a sign to guide my way,
And get what I've came for (you),
'Cause you don't come easy

Give me your hand, come walk with me girl,
Nothing's that far when you're near,
So come even closer to me,
Something so easy to do

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean),
Inside of your eyes
Taking me deeper
Where all the pain dies

Give me your smile, give me your name girl,
Let them know that you're mine,
And I'll do the same for you,
Cause our love comes easy

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean),
Inside of your eyes
Taking me deeper
Where all the pain dies

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean),
Inside of your arms, taking me deeper (Oh, oh)
To where all the pain goes (Deeper)

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean),
Inside of your eyes
Taking me deeper (Deeper)
Giving me new life

You're mine...
You're mine...

Demo Version

Give me your smile, give me your name girl
Give me a sign to guide my way
And get what I've came for (you)
Cause you don't come easy

Give me your hand, come walk with me girl
Nothing's that far when you're near
So come even closer to me
Something so easy to do

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean)
Inside of your eyes (your eyes so bright)
Taking me deeper
Where all the pain dies

Give me your smile, give me your name girl
Let them know that you're mine (you're mine)
And I'll do the same for you
Cause our love comes easy

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean)
Inside of your eyes (your eyes so bright)
Taking me deeper
Giving me new life

You're mine

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean)
Inside of your arms (your eyes so bright)
Taking me deeper
To where all the pain goes

And then I fall into the ocean (into the ocean)
Inside of your eyes (your eyes so bright)
Taking me deeper
Giving me new life

You're mine
You're mine

Gallery

• 

  Chester with a rough mix CD

• 

  Chester and Talinda's wedding

• 

  Chester and Talinda's wedding

• 

  Dead By Sunrise song board