What does the line “She could steal, but she could not rob.” mean, in your mind?
So I quit the police department
and got myself a steady job.
And though she tried her best to help me
she could steal but she could not rob.
Setting aside the question as to why working for the police department wasn’t a steady job to begin with (maybe that’ll be my next post). What is the distinction here between stealing and robbing?
It’s just wordplay. “job” rhymes with “rob.”
There are minor differences in connotation, but the major point of the line is that there is little distinction between the two.
Definitely not the image I get from “by the banks of her own lagoon.”
I’ll have to get my copy of Anthology at home, but the British police raided one of the Beatles (George?) for drugs, and literally came in through the bathroom window. Got myself a steady job is clearly a slap at the police, saying it is not a real profession.
To steal is to take something that does not belong to you. To rob is to do so by force or violence.
I would guess in the song it refers to a matter of degree. She’s OK with, say, shoplifting, but draws the line a pulling a gun on a bank teller.
A little petty theft, okay – armed holdup, not okay.
I always took it as you can steal someone’s heart but you can’t rob their love away.
Which leads one to wonder, what was Paul doing such that helping him would constitute robbery?
It’s ultimately meant to be evocative, not descriptive.
As the previous comments prove.
Hey, maybe that’s why they’ve got to hide it.
I’ve recently heard an interview (no cite, sorry) with Sir Paul that confirmed something I’ve always believed about his lyrics:
He puts words together based on whether he likes they way they sound, without gatting hung up on the meaning.
So don’t get hung up on trying to understand any deep meaning.
McCartney’s not the only one, though. John Lennon certainly did the same thing at times, and so do a lot of other lyricists. And others are just trying to get words that rhyme. 
Stealing can be done behind your back. Robbing is face to face.
So true.
It’s true of the majority of lyrics of pop songs, surely? I’m always amazed at how people read such specific meanings into vague song lyrics, most of which have quite obviously been thrown together and switched around until the writer got something that sounded OK. Only a small proportion of songs are actually about anything much, I would say.
I had heard the title and first line was referring to a groupie who actually did come through the bathroom window into his London house on Cavendish ave.
But yeah, it’s mostly rhyming nonsense… too bad - a bit of work and it’s a terrific song. But I did like the steal/rob line. As others have said, you steal from Best Buy, but rob from your roommate.
I’m going to hijack this thread, because I was listening to the Please Please Me album today, and I too got to wondering about a Beatles lyric. What does Paul mean by “She was just 17?” I’m afraid I don’t “know.” Was she younger than 17? Was the lyric written only because “mean” and “17” rhyme?
“She was only 17” is the most obvious meaning.
The second line is kinda “Nudge, nudge… hot 17 year old girls… wink, wink”