What does Daughters mean?

John Mayer: Daughters Meaning

Album cover for Daughters album cover

Song Released: 2004


Daughters Lyrics

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
She's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    hurt_enough
    click a star to vote
    Nov 19th 2008 !⃝

    i think this is song is a perfect artistic ode to what happens in our childhoods and how that affects so deeply our capacity to love as human beings in the future...it's really what 'imago theory' is all about...this song resonates i'm sure so honestly with a lot of women who had unavailable fathers...and how they crave those unfulfilled needs from men later in their life....fathers should be good to their daughters so that they can choose good men...mothers should also be good to their daughters so that they [daughters] can become good women...it's a very similar song to alanis morisette's princes familiar....poetic justice!

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    blnts_chick
    click a star to vote
    Aug 30th 2005 !⃝

    I think that this song is about a girl who's from a disfunctional family, and a guy (John) just feels that he probably can't do anything about her family situation but just be there to comfort her and listen to her. He says "On behalf of every man looking out for every girl, you are the god and the weight of her world" Also in the chorus, I think he's saying that fathers and mothers should be good to their daughters because one day they're going to be just like them, and this men need women to survive, just how women need men.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 29th 2010 !⃝

    this song is about how some girls cant learn to love men because of how there fathers had treated them. hes telling all of the dads to treat their daughters like if they are princesses so that later on they will be able to love other men.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 30th 2019 !⃝

    I don’t think it’s exactly saying or suggesting that parents who are bad or good at parenting will have this or that affect. As an example, it says, “they will learn as you do.” This suggests that parents in a sense build “us” their children up into the people we will become the good and bad. Those with insecurities in relationships or those able to see the insecurities and give them hopefully as much love as they possible can. They should as in John’s case though not become the father of the “child”. John is writing about love and it’s a warning to us to pay attention to our children because we take part in deciding their futures.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 9th 2013 !⃝

    John Mayer's "Daughter's" in the beginning he speaks of a young woman with insecurity. His perception of that insecurity, and his perception of young men's role. The refrain is a perception, and an interpretation of maternal, and paternal.
    The first stanza of this song starts with the first hand experience of a young man who is emotionally attached, and committing to a young woman. His emotional attachment is conveyed in the line "She puts the color inside of my world."
    The insecurity about her is conveyed in the line "she's just like a maze where all of the walls are continually changed." This also expresses when he gains a perception of her she quickly shuts off the part of her he precieves. His commitment is shown in the line "I've done all I can to stand on her steps my heart in my hands." until he comes to his conclusion.
    The second stanza is a poigant perception of where her inescurity derives. The line "Oh, see that skin? It's the same she's been standing in." expresses a retainment of a memory. His perception and the perservation of this memory, her "skin," is conveyed through the lines "Since the day she saw him walking away. Now she's left cleaning up the mess he made."
    The third stanza I interpret as his perception of young males' characteristic role, including himself, and a woman's characteristic role. The characteristics of being strong, and soldiering on are coupled with the sense that these characteristics would be lost without the loving heart of a good woman.
    The fourth stanza is straight forward. Through his personal experience he has concluded that every man is the god and weight of a girl's world. This stanza brings awareness to a male role in a young girl's life. It suggests the role of a father paradigms her behavior.
    The refrain of this song reverberates the maternal, and paternal roles. The behaviors set forth from a young woman should come from two caring, encouraging, and nurturing parents. So the pattern can be set forth into her adulthood.
    In conclusion this song represents the importance of interpersonal relationships in early development. The roles of men, and women to children. This song fits any adaptation of the paradigm.

  6. sprmn2008
    click a star to vote
    Feb 2nd 2010 !⃝

    Again (as I mentioned in the "Your Body Is A Wonderland" section), the meaning to this song can be found by watching VH1's Storytellers: John Mayer.
    The song, in John's words, is about being the guy who has the girl with "daddy issues" and how no matter how hard he tries, she still won't fully trust him because of her bad relationship with her father. He's always having to pick up the pieces. But he also says that it's not just the fathers that need to be good to the daughters, but the mothers, as well. Because they are the only ones left for the girl to look up to if the relationship between father and daughter is crappy.
    Just go watch it. It's very interesting.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 8th 2009 !⃝

    My cousin told me what this song is about it's about a girl whose father beat her and then left her then shed have to clean up her blood from the beating.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 4th 2008 !⃝

    To me this song is about a guy and a girl. She puts the color in his world (he really loves her) But she's hard to figure and she makes it hard for him to love her. He realize that it's not him it was her father that hurt her. The father is suppose to be the first male role model for the daugter. So the girl feels if her own father could hurt her then any man would. So basically he wants all fathers to be good to there daughters so it won't make it hard on men like him to love them....

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 25th 2006 !⃝

    I think this shows how much John knows about girls and how much he respects them. My favorite verse is "on behalf of every man looking out for every girl you are the God and the weight of her world". :)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
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    Jul 14th 2005 !⃝

    I believe the song is about his girlfriend who came from a broken home. Her dad left, her mom is also hurt and not being able to give her some kind of support. She is stil trying to recover from the whole situation.

    Ren Lins
    baixinha1979@hotmail.com


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