For the Love of a Daughter

Demi has gotten me through so much. She got me through being bullied with her first album, getting over my first boyfriend with her second, and now with her as an inspiration I am getting over my addiction to cutting. This song touches my heart because it has been almost 5 years since my own father and I have spoken and he is an alcoholic, he never hit my mom. He went to prison before I was even born. I love Demi so much and her voice brings tears to my eyes. She is amazing. Anyone who says she isn't can kiss my ass because she is my hero.

Here is my interpretation of part of this song: Verse 1 - I think that Demi is saying that at a young age she was always around her family fighting ("Four years old with my back to the door / All I could hear was the family war.") I think she is also trying to say that her dad was very selfish. The only reason he took care of her was because, he had to (" Your selfish hands always expecting more / Am I your child, or just a charity ward?") Verse 2 - In the next verse I think she is expressing how she thinks that her dad is missing a piece of his heart. That piece happens to be her ("You have a hollowed-out heart / But it's heavy in your chest.") She is also trying to fix that missing piece of his heart, but it is not working ("I try so hard to fight it / But it's hopeless.") Chorus - In the third verse she tries to just get rid of her father from her life, but she is still always going to love him ("I'd love to leave you alone / But I can't let you go.") Then she tries to convince her father to stop drinking if her really loves her ("Put the bottle down / For the love of a daughter.")

This song is dead on my relationship with my dad. "Don't you remember I'm your baby girl" every time I hear that I burst into tears, because I've wanted to yell that so many times at my dad. Her voice really is haunting in this song but I love it. If this doesn't open your mind about alcoholic or abusive parents, I don't know what will. Demi is such a strong girl for letting the world hear this song.<3

Wow. Her voice is so beautiful, and this song is tragic. That nearly-screaming place she goes to at the end...haunting, brings tears to my eyes.

Does anyone know if this song is actually about Demi and her father?

My father was never abusive or an alcoholic, but he abandoned my family when I was 12, if you can even really say that he was always there before that. That was 10 years ago. It still hurts to this day.

This song makes me cry so much because me and my father have the exact same relationship. He used to always hit my mom and it made me so angry and he always told me he hated me and that he didn't want either me or my mom and it's just heartbreaking and this song just relates so much to it all! :(

I have heard this song 69 times today, and I'm still crying to it. I can honestly say, that it was worth the 2 years I've waited for this. :P

I am in love with the lyrics.. It describes my life with my dad and my stepdad..

'I can be manipulated only so many times before even 'I love you' starts to sound like a lie'

I think it's so beautifully written and that's where I break every single time. And this song makes me proud to say that I have been a fan of Demi's for 3½ years.! :D

I live with my mother and stepfather and the relationship between the three of us is okay, I guess. It's one problem though - they drink waaaay too much and, yeah.. I don't know. My father also drinks a lot, but I'm never at this place. Don't know why, because I love my father. But I can really relate to this song. Its' beautiful and Demi's vocals in it literally blows me away, time after time, after time, after time.

I'd love to leave you alone But I can't let you go

That's exactly how I feel. Wow, I can really feel Demi. Poor girl, hope she'll stay strong.

When I first found out this song was a title to a song on the album I started rapidly wondering what it'd sound like. It's just like the relationship I have with my father. It' so powerful how she can impact someone's life like she has. I love you Demi. <3

This song is heart wrenching, and I can relate to every single word in this song, sadly. I remember one time when I was exactly four years old and my father was drunk, I was hiding under the stairs because he was being violent towards one of my older sister. I cried silently so that he wouldn’t hear me, and he never knew I heard it all happen. Or maybe he did, but thought I would forget it all because I was so young. But that painful memory haunts me to this day. Because there are some memories that just won’t go away. He never was violent towards me when I was that young, but that changed as soon as my sisters had moved out.

I know the pain and frustration that rests behind every word in this song and I adore Demi for sharing all this. I cry every time I hear this song because it’s so intense, and I feel it could might as well be a song written by myself.

I've listened to Demi's music since nearly four years back now and I never knew all the things she had been through, but now lately I have learned that we've been facing a number of very similar struggles.