Michael Lohan and Songs for Other Notable Daughters

Clearly, Lindsay Lohan is already going through a bit of a rough patch, but that hasn’t caused her father, Michael Lohan, to lay low. Instead, he chose this week to finally issue a musical response to Lindsay’s angsty 2009 single “Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)”: the twisted, three-verse song, “Daddy’s Little Girl.” Against the backdrop of a soft rock melody, he sings the lyrics “A father’s love will never die,” and “if you need me hear my love is still alive.” The song, apparently, was written from prison. Michael’s track is certainly a unique one, but it’s certainly not the world’s first father-to-daughter tribute. Below, a few other notable examples. Warning: some are better than others.

1. “My Little Girl” by country singer Tim McGraw, was said to be “so sugary-sweet it can cause cavities” by critic Kevin John Coyne’s in Country Universe.
 
2. “Isn’t She Lovely,” the 1976 hit by Stevie Wonder celebrating the birth of his daughter Aisha, opens with Aisha’s sweet baby cry and fades out with eerie samples of them playing together.
 
3. 2008’s country duet, “Ready, Set, Don’t Go,” by father-daughter team Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus includes a verse in which Billy Ray sings, “She’s gotta do what she’s gotta do, and I’ve gotta like it or not.” We wonder whether or not Miley’s recent risque birdcage dance in the video for her new single “Can’t Be Tamed” falls under the “like it” or “not” category.

4. Steve Tyler’s rock-a-bye, “Mia,” featured on the 1979 Aerosmith album Night in the Ruts, includes a fair amount of wailing, but Tyler’s heart is clearly in the right place.
 
5. Eminem’s daughter Hailie has figured  into his music more than once, sometimes somewhat uncomfortably (anyone remember “Kim”?) But “Hailie’s Song,” from 2002’s The Eminem Show, is a mostly touching tribute to the motivating powers of parental responsibility, save for one nasty detour on the subject of Hailie’s mother: “Man, I shoulda seen it comin’, why’d I stick my penis up in?/Woulda ripped the pre-nup up if I’d seen what she was fuckin’.”