username June 20th, 2005 09:34PM  
Sounds a lot like a girl who is abused by her mom.

anonymous November 17th, 2006 10:12AM  
I think the girl is describing an abusive mother. She is saying that the mother is not fit to call her, "daughter." she also says that she holds the hand that holds her down, which means that she has a toxic relationship with her mother...

anonymous November 19th, 2006 04:43AM  
It's about a girl with dyslexia, whose mother doesn't know nor understand - and in fact contributes to the problem. The dyslexia is undiagnosed and the mother is the one holding the girl down - by nt recognising the condition. 'The shades go down' refers to the confusion in the girl's mind. The title line of the song reflects the daughter's perceived shame and humiliation in the eyes of her mother - who she only wants to make proud of her.

anonymous February 20th, 2007 03:12AM  
I believe the song is about either an adopted child or the relationship between a step mother and her 'daughter'.

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me (picture of her real mother)


...She holds the hand that holds her down (the mother is either abusive or a bit over protective.)

bah... That is just what I got out of it.

bstehen June 27th, 2008 03:26PM  
I have a slightly different interpretation on this one. Eddie Vedder had a step dad whom he hated and would beat his mother (betterman). The child is Eddie, the young girl is his mother.

some support.

"tries to make her proud" -shows the love the child has for their mother, as he is trying to make her proud, not avoid a beating.

"young girl... violins" -placing the young girl (aka. mother) on a pedistal

"shades go down, its in her head" -the shades go down, as mentioned before to hide the domestic violence from the neighbors, however "it's in her head" shows that these curtains are not real, rather a coping mechanism that the mother uses to block out domestic from herself.

"Don't call me daughter, not fit to" - This confuses me, however I think that it might mean that the stepdad refers to the little boy as daughter, as a demeaning term, and he's not fit to as he is only a step dad... or it could be a little girl and her mother,,,

"the picture kept will remind me" - he has an old picture of his real father to remind him that his step dad is not his real father

"she holds the hand that holds her down" -In reference to her mother still being in love with his stepdad despite the abuse

anonymous October 13th, 2008 06:45PM  
I believe the song is a girl that her dad abuses. And the picture she has, is that of her mother, being that if the mother was alive this would not be happening to her. Also if she makes em proud he'd be to embarrassed to continue with the abuse. Thats why she says "Don't call me daughter, not fit to."

anonymous December 19th, 2008 03:42PM  
Its about a girl with dislexia or something... and she cant seem to do well in school or anything for that matter... and her mother is so frusturated because shes spent all her money on trying to make her daughter better that she beats her often...

anonymous December 31st, 2008 08:38PM  
This song represents the true life story of Sybil, the woman with multiple personalities... Watch the movie

anonymous June 3rd, 2009 12:23AM  
I always thot this song was about a dad that abused his daughter or step daughter not the mom. where are people getting the mom from? Or maybe it's about an adopted girl who can't get comfortable with the idea that these are who her new parents are.

JasmineStar August 11th, 2009 10:12AM  
Eddie Vedder had some tough issues in his childhood. He was about 15 when he moved out of home to fend for himself, his mother leaving him to go to live interstate, while he tried to work and still go to school, which I believe he had to dorp out of due to the work getting in the way, he later overcame some things and got through school. By the time his mother told him who his real father way, the guy had died of multiple sclerosis. So we might wonder if the line, the picture kept will remind me, refers to a picture he had of his father.

Whether Eddie sings for his own female psyche, for a sister or for any person who has felt abused, I feel he sings for those who have suffered feelings of abuse at home, particularly if the mother condoned or did the abuse or if the mother turned a blind eye to the abuse, but no child wishes to break ties with a mother, and it takes so much to finally break that tie of abuse. The abuse may be verbal, mental, or physical. It could be blaming a child for a step fathers violence, it can be many things. So like all great songs this song is open to hundreds of interpretations that allow the listener to release the hurts of abuse, particularly if it is hurt from the mother, as this is the hardest to let go of, as we all want to love our mothers. Nobody's childhood is perfect and just about everyone has some feeling of betrayal to release.
i think there is a certain point in life where we need to see our parents as people, not as a perfect mother or father, and at this point we are no longer the son or daughter, but if respect is there we can move into a more equal friendship. If abuse and disrespect continues sometimes one has to release the parent to move on.