So Close

It sounds like it is describing a series of different relationships in which the male is very enthusiastic about the relationship but the female is not, often because she does not feel quite ready for love.

The first (“she slipped out of his arms and out the door”) describes a man who is entranced by a woman, but she feels intimidated and tries to get away as soon as she can.

The second (“a man loves a woman but he don’t understand why she’s sad when she stares at the ring on her hand”) is about a man who really enjoys the relationship he is in with a woman, but the woman does not love him back and feels trapped.

The third (“she sits in some club, where the long shadows fall, drops a coin in the jukebox, not the phone on the wall”) describes a woman who is introverted. She gets pleasure from solitude activities as opposed to romantic involvement.

The fourth (“Yea I know someone, who just heads for the sun, she says "I don't want to be wise, I just want to stay young") describes a woman who enjoys her youthful freedom so much that she doesn’t want to grow up and be involved in romantic relationships. It follows the verse “Some people think, if you really believe, that's what you need to solve all the mysteries,” a reference to those who naively think all your problems in life are solved just because you found your true love.

The fifth (“There's a restless look in your eye tonight. There's a secret hurt in my heart. And the dream that pulls us together girl, Is a dream, that's gonna tear us, tear us apart. There's a restless look in your eye tonight, Oh, are you lookin' for some way out of here. We gotta fight to keep it together girl, For the dream, that keeps us …”) describes the anxiety over uncertainty in a relationship status and the man’s desire to hold it together.

The refrain (“So close, yet so far away”) describes that the narrator feels he has the relationship, but it’s still out of his reach because of her lack of a desire to be in it.