Photos from LADY GAGA x TERRY RICHARDSON

"Well, my dad has had a heart condition for about 15 years. He has or he had a bad aortic valve, and his body for a very long time was only pumping a third of the blood that you're supposed to get every time his heart beat. So he [was] resigned that he wasn't going to get the surgery and told my mother and I that he was going to let his life take its course.... And I was on tour and I couldn't leave, so I went into the studio and I wrote this song 'Speechless'.... My dad used to call me after he'd had a few drinks and I wouldn't know what to say. I was speechless and I just feared that I would lose him and I wouldn't be there....I wrote this song as a plea to him and it worked, he had the surgery with no complications.''


—Lady Gaga on the inspiration behind "Speechless"