Lyric discussion by surprisesmile 

Cover art for Red lyrics by Okkervil River

the mom feels guilty for not raising her daughter right, and thinks she introduced her daughter to they lifestyle she is living in now. He takes the dancer home and she tells him how her life is hard and she misses her mom no matter what her upbringing was like she still loves her. he wishes he could write the girl telling her her mother probably misses her as much as she misses her mother. he does not tell the girl that, he simply says he wants to tell her. it is a sad song with a happy idea...bringing a mother and daughter back togther.

It doesn't sound as though the mother raised her much to me. "I know I don't deserve supervised sight of her." Maybe the stanzas are taking place at different periods in time?