The lyrics are a ridiculous rationalization of infidelity, the protag prays for strength to avoid cheating on what he admits is a totally faithful girlfriend. He then decides hey boys will be boys and just prays he doesn’t get caught.
The video however reveals his girlfriend is actually cheating on him, she isn’t faithful at all just as duplicitous as he is. Watching the video it seems more like a commentary on ridiculous relationship drama.
The song is about the end of Gwen Stefani’s relationship with Tony Kanal, the bass player, but the music video makes reference to the fact that Gwen was singled out by the press as the face of the band and the other band members felt ignored.
I understood Soul Asylum’s Runaway Train to be about struggling with depression and substance abuse, but the music video focused on actual runaway children.
They spell out the lyrics with cards or symbols… i’d seen it a dozen times until i realised one of the words they were spelling out implied something quite inappropriate that they would never be able to say.