Album: Leap Of Faith (1991)

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• Amanda, I know what you're thinking
  You and I have much to say
  And you've been making me crazy
  Trying to understand
  But it's impossible at your age
  
  I know I said I'd always try
  But you're going to bed alone again tonight
  And you lie there in the dark and wonder why
  
  I did it for you, and the boys
  Because love should teach you joy
  And not the imitation
  That your momma and daddy tried to show you
  I did it for you, and for me
  And because I still believe
  There's only one thing
  That you can never give up
  Never compromise on
  And that's the real thing you need in love
  
  You're so afraid your life is over
  And nothing I can say can change your mind
  How can anybody be so selfish
  And treat you all so cruel
  Go on and scream at me and cry
  I'll always hold you in my soul
  And I'm never going to leave you all alone
  But your daddy doesn't live here anymore
  
  I did it for you, and the boys
  Because love should teach you joy
  And not the imitation
  That your momma and daddy tried to show you
  I did it for you, and for me
  And because I still believe
  There's only one thing
  That you can never give up
  Never compromise on
  And that's the real thing you need in love
  
  Everybody's got a boat upon the ocean
  But not everybody's sailing out to sea
  And is there someone there for me?
  I'm ready to believe
  
  I did it for you, and the boys
  Because love should teach you joy
  And not the imitation
  That your momma and daddy tried to show you
  I did it for you, and for me
  And because I still believe
  There's only one thing
  That you can never give up
  Never compromise on
  And that's the real thing you need in love Writer/s: David Foster, Kenny Loggins
  Publisher: Audiam, Inc., Gnossos Music / Milk Money Music, Peermusic Publishing
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 13

• Jenny from ArizonaThis song has meant a lot to me for many years. I don't think anyone should live in a marriage without real love. Your children will have their own lives to live and parents are entitled to be happy. Not to abandon their kids, to be there for them, but to have their own life. In my own case, my father left when I was about 5. My stepfather came along a few years later and he was the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. Including my own birth parents. This is my experience. And I remember when my stepbrother asked for advice about ending his marriage when his son was about 5. My opinion was that the earlier the better, before a child can fully form an idea about how things are supposed to be. And it did work out for everyone. To divorce in teen age years is usually the worst. I practiced divorce law and that was also my observation.
• Stephen from FloridaBoy... I think this song speaks of lessons learned.. For me, I left my wife of 14 years and my 2 girls then 10 / 12 years because she became ill with MS... And I believed our relationship was being abandoned because of that..so I moved on.. I spent 7 years in therapy to understand abandonment a process of both my parents leaving me when i was 5 to live with my Dad's parents and raising me.. I wish I had known more about me back then.. my head and feelings and what love was all about. The girl's mother passed in 2009 my girls and I are close.. but not that close..both come from failed marriages.. hmm I wonder why.. Peace.. Stephen
• R.e.g. from New EnglandSmilechurch, not sure if you're interested or not, but the Professor of Rock Channel on YouTube just had an interview with Loggins on "House at Pooh Corner" and this song on June 19, 2024. Might be better for folks to listen to what he has to say. Personally, I'm still laughing at the "Oh really? Let me talk to daddy." bit concerning "House at Pooh Corner".
• Smilechurch from Portland, OrI'm sickened by the comments here about Kenny Loggins singing about shirking marital and family commitment. We don't know what was in his heart and we certainly don't know how it is to walk in his shoes. Staying together for the sake of the kids is a form of emotional child abuse. I am not advocating abandoning a marriage at the first sign of trouble or whenever someone "better" comes along. I just wish more married couples would stop using the excuse of "we're staying together for the kids" when in a loveless marriage they have both tried hard to repair. My own parents stayed together for twenty years, which was about fourteen years too many. It ended up in murder during their final year of marriage, and I lost both of my parents in one fell swoop. They could've, should've been happier apart than together...and so would their three children including me.
• Ed H. from Sugar Land, Tx Gary Chapman has a good discussion on saving marriages in his "Five Love Languages" book. It is not easy. It takes at least on person willing to sacrifice and love unconditionally. Extremely difficult but possible. Divorcing "for you and boys" (the children) is a very poor excuse to say the least.
• Seventhmist from 7th HeavenSince this was made to "celebrate" his divorce, more than a bit of biting irony here, since the woman he dumped his wife for dumped him a few years later.
• Randa from Fredericksburg, VaI picked up right away that there are more men commenting than women on this post. Anyway, I've always liked this song, but it wasn't until 2012 during a trip to see my Dad for the first time in 10 years that the words truly spoke to me. My grandparents had both died within 11 months of each other, so I was at a very low, dark place emotionally. Also, during this same time period, my brother and sister in law legally separated, leaving my nieces feeling much like "Amanda." This song speaks to the little girl in my heart, the grown up who mentally understands why and has seen first hand the destruction a toxic marriage can cause for countless generations.
• Bill from PasadenaI did it for you, and the boys,
  Because love should teach you joy,
  And not the imitation,
  That your momma and daddy tried to show you.
  I did it for you, and for me, and little Kenny...
• Andrew from Cebu City, Philippinesto brian, kathryn and everybody, some people leave the commitment because their partners are the first one to forget the true meaning of the commitment of marriage. some people confuse marriage with just living together even without love. however, i still believe, in fact i know, that the true meaning of the commitment of marriage is to love. i left because my wife no longer loves me. she has an abusive personality. she wants us to stay together, even without love, just for the children. for her, that is our commitment to marriage and to the family. she forgot that the true commitment to marriage is to love.
• Brett from Broadview Heights, OhCharlie Peacock
  "Almost Threw It All Away"
  
  I remember when you were just a girl
  I was a boy in a big man's world
  We had no idea what time would reveal
  Little did we know that
  Over a million tears had to fall
  That is no exageration
  'Cause I've counted them all
  Every sad and senseless incident
  Has been mine to recall
  
  You never gave up, you never gave in
  You didn't say no...I can't take anymore of this
  You never gave up on me, you never gave in
  You refused to believe that love had come to and end
  
  I almost threw it all away
  Traded truth for a lie, diamonds for clay
  Oh I, almost threw it all away
  
  Through some clever thinking and a strong imagination
  I could twist the truth into any configuration
  And find myself doing things
  That I never dreamed I could do
  
  I've know the kind of pain
  Where you can't catch your breath
  You sat if this is life
  Then please bring me death
  Thank God that that wish I made never ever came true
  
  You never gave up, you never gave in
  You didn't say no...I can't take anymore of this
  You never gave up on me, you never gave in
  You refused to believe that love had come to an end
  
  True love doesn't come and go
  Here today then gone tomorrow
  Doesn't speak the wicked word
  That breaks the heart in two
  Doesn't renegotiate
  What it knows is true
  Doesn't give up, give in, throw it all away.
• Jim from Garden Grove, CaA battle-cry song for those who wish to avoid the very real consequence of breaking up a marriage. The hardest choice, highest path, would be to stay together and - beyond the pretend or surface facade - get real and honest about the barriers to connection and love. In honor of the connection and love underneath it all, we commit to burn through all negative thoughts and judgments, to see it arise again. Now that would be an inspiring song.
• Kathryn from Houston, TxCopping out to many might be living an image instead of an actuality, Brian. The choice was a braver choice than pretending/imitating, and gives the children more actual and authenticity basead models of and for life. The reality is that pretending/not rocking the boat, is the EASIER thing to do. It offers no growth to either person, and sets the example to the children that they need not seek that which spiritually sustains them.
• Brian from Wilkes-barre, PaBeautiful song but a cop out for an explanation; "I did it for you, and the boys.....because love should teach you joy and not the immitation that your momma and daddie tried to show you". How about showing the kids what commitment is?

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