The singer known as Pink was born Alecia Beth Moore in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1979. Pink’s family was a typical middle-class family. Her mother was an emergency room nurse, and Pink’s father, Jim Moore, was an insurance salesman. As it turns out, Jim Moore also served his country as a soldier during the Vietnam War. I know a bit about Vietnam War veterans since my mother’s husband is also a veteran of that terrible conflict, and I know that like all wars, it really messed up a lot of good men. Who can say what potential is lost in a generation that is at war? It’s impossible to calculate. As for Pink’s experience, what happened to her growing up probably wasn’t helped by whatever demons her dad struggled with.
After years of familial dysfunction and her parents fighting, Pink’s dad left the family, leaving behind a heartbroken little girl named Alecia. Pink even wrote a poem about that time of her life and turned it into a song later in life, titled “Family Portrait.” In the song, the child is begging for normalcy and thinks maybe it’s even something she did wrong to cause her parents to fight so much. That’s something that’s common for children who grow up in a hostile environment. In the song, Pink says that “we look pretty happy” and she pleads with her parents to just play pretend that happiness comes naturally to them.
As the song progresses, Pink begins to talk about having to split the holidays between her parents and have two addresses, as well as her mother changing her last name. In the song, Pink begs her daddy not to leave and promises that her mom will be nicer and “I won’t spill the milk at dinner.” Pink said in an interview that she’s seen her dad cry three times in his life, and one of them was when he heard that song for the first time. Pink makes it clear she loves her father very much, and you can see that fully on display in the video below.
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In this video, Pink is onstage and she tells her audience that she’s inviting a special guest up to sing with her, calling him her “first rock star.” As it turns out, it’s her father and this is the first time he’s ever sung before an audience. Pink’s father, Jim Moore, served in the Vietnam War and when he was in service, he wrote a special song called “I Have Seen the Rain.” In the song, he laments what he might have been if it weren’t for that “crazy Vietnam War.” Watch this special performance between a father and daughter below.
