I can't steal you

I'm not sure what this song really means but my interpretation of it reflects something I am going through. I really cared about someone whom I knew was in love with me, but I wasn't in love with. It hurt him to be around me and know that I didn't feel the same.

So, the lyrics "Hold me close, I can't feel you, You'll have to trust me, I can't steal you" really hit a chord with me... it seems that all he wants is to hold onto someone, to be close to them but also wants them to know (trust) that he realizes he "can't steal" them. Kind of like not being able to steal their heart or make them fall in love.

in any case, it is a beautiful song!

I'm like crying so hard over this right now. I saw him and Brian Fallon do this one night in Terminal 5 and wasn't into it because I was just there for Gaslight, but now this one means a lot to me cause I'm going through the same sort of thing Matthew seems to sing about.

I love a girl so much. Frankly, she loves me too, but she's just not ready for a relationship. But now my persistence has pushed her away a little further, and I don't know what to do. I feel sick to my stomach. Physically ill over her. And I can't steal her. It's hard to listen to the sad Gaslight songs now, because we've shared so much over The Gaslight Anthem, and now it just hurts to listen to them. I know she'll come around one day. I know it. We're best friends and I have nobody else. It's just so hard in this situation specifically. I'm just glad there are songs like this to relate to. "I know there's someone out there feeling just like I feel" Brian Fallon's lyrics go.

So as far as I can tell the song is roughly about a guy who has given up trying to figure out a way to get the girl back after doing something wrong (cheating maybe?) and is saying "ya know what? If you wanna be with me, you can but I am done trying."

Especially the lines: "Hold yourself, I'm done. My arms are tired" "We betray what we can't deny, cuz I believe she needs me" "just as sad as the words we'd say...it's all gone in an instant"

All of this points to a guy who screwed up but in his mind it wasn't enough to warrant all his begging for her to come back and now he is just done with it.

As a separate point, I am not sure that this isn't an unreliable narrator since some of the lyrics seem to say that he is gonna keep chasing her.

e.g. "it's just so easy it's hard

hold me close, I can't feel you you'll have to trust me I can't steal you"

It's just so easy is what he says to himself to leave her. But it's not. Especially the way that it was sang when he did it with Brian, one was singing the first part but both sang the "it's hard"

In any event, just what I am seeing in it (and full disclosure, this is similar to something that happened to me).