John Mayer Explains Why He Thinks One Of His Biggest Hits Is 'Selfish'

John Mayer is explaining why he thinks the inspiration for one of his biggest songs was "selfish."

During a recent concert for HISTORYTalks in Philadelphia, Mayer explained how more than 20 years of reflection has given him a new perspective on his 2003 hit "Daughters," which he now believes captures the "selfish" logic of youth, per People. In the popular track, he sings, "Fathers, be good to your daughters/ Daughters will love like you do/ Girls become lovers who turn into mothers/ So mothers, be good to your daughters, too."

"What was a 24-year-old boy doing, telling fathers?" he asked with a laugh.

The "Gravity" singer admits now that the inspiration for the song, which won him a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2005, was "very selfish" as a result of his "young logic" at the time.

"I was thinking in very circuitous and clever ways that it was really about me, a young guy, so selfishly upset that he couldn't be with the woman he loved, because he thought that her father must have had something to do with it," he said, adding, "When you're young... that's young logic, and it plays really well in songs. It just does. 'Come over. I know [we're] horrible for each other, come over,' [type of] young."