I’m not talking about the title when the lyrics clearly say “You’re gonna lose that girl”.
My question is what is the singer’s motivation. He addressing the song to somebody he knows and telling him that he’s at risk of losing the affections of a girl who’s interested in him if he doesn’t indicate to her that he returns her interest. (If you don’t take her out tonight/She’s going to change her mind.)
This seems like the kind of advice you’d give to a friend. But the singer also says that if the other guy doesn’t make a move, he will. (I will take her out tonight/And I will treat her kind.)
The singer even seems to indicate that he would do this not because he’s interested in the girl but would do it to hurt the guy he’s singing to. (I’ll make a point of taking her away from you/Watch what you do, yeah/The way you treat her what else can I do?)
So what’s going on? A friend would tell you to ask the girl out. An enemy would try to steal the girl from you but wouldn’t give you a warning. If the singer was interested in the girl himself, he would be saying things like “She’s a great girl. You should treat her better.” But the singer shows no interest in the girl other than her being something he can take away from the other guy.
He’s a friend who wants to date the girl, but won’t if she remains with him. So it’s, “she’s your girlfriend if you treat her right; if not, I’ll ask her out.”
It’s definitely not a friend. Although the singer is addressing his romantic rival, it reads more like a hypothetical speech. He’s monologing to himself.
I hear it as the singer liking both the girl and the friend, and feeling bad that the girl is being mistreated. He’s trying to get the friend to treat her better by threatening him with taking the girl away (the way you treat her, what else can I do.) It might work - the status quo needs to be changed.
This. The singer is friends with both of the other parties, and doesn’t like the way the guy is treating the girl. So a “friendly” warning is in order.
We polyamorous people have a notion we call “compersion” — where if you like somebody you wish for them good sexual-emotional experiences that don’t involve you yourself.
You don’t have to be poly to feel compersion for your buddies. Even when you’re attracted to your buddy’s potential girlfriend and would contemplate her for yourself, that doesn’t prevent you from celebrating your buddy’s chances with her, wishing good things for the two of them.
But hey, if he isn’t going to pay her any attention, and if he’s going to ignore your warning, then you’re still interested yourself.
It’s also a “side effect” goal, I always thought - that “the girl” in question is meant to hear the song as well. (There’s a reason the Beatles’ early concerts were filled with screaming, possibly underwear-throwing girls.)
In other words, “Guy #1 doesn’t appreciate what an awesome girl he’s got, hey wise up or someone like me is gonna make a move to steal her, and she would totally like me better” is not really a “use it or lose it” warning to Guy #1 (I probably could have picked a better phrasing, sorry) so much as a way of saying, “Hey girl, if this man’s your headache I’ll be your aspirin”.
I can see myself telling a friend that he needs to act in a situation like this and saying something like “She likes you. But if you don’t ask her out, somebody else will and you’ll have lost your chance.”
But I can’t see myself saying “She likes you. But if you don’t ask her out, I will and you’ll have lost your chance.” That’s the kind of thing that ends a friendship.
If I was willing to end a friendship over this girl, I wouldn’t be telling my friend he should be asking out the girl I’m interested in. That’s a good way to lose both my friend and the girl. I’d either tell my friend he should date the girl without the threat and that way I’d lose my chance with the girl but keep my friend. Or I’d go ahead and ask the girl out and accept the possibility I might lose my friend over it.
Singer is interested in a girl who already has a boyfriend (who is not any particular relation to the singer). Singer intends to win girl away from boyfriend by treating her better than he does.