Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
I fell in love with the string man
Who played guitar in a rock and roll band.
And every night I'd watch them play
But it happened at the matinee
How I squirmed when he bent those strings,
And I screamed when he started to sing.
The way he moved and looked so groovy,
Well, ya know, he did something to me.
String man...string man...string man...string man...
So I followed the string man
Who played guitar in a string band.
And every night I'd watch them play,
And they got better everyday.
Pretty soon, and what do ya think
(What do you think)
Everybody's saying they're the biggest thing
(The biggest thing)
Hit records and making the scene
(The scene)
Sexy pictures in the fan magazines.
String man...string man...string man...string man...
I strung along with the string man;
He always called me his biggest fan.
Though he was kind, I should have known better
Than to think we'd always stay together.
And then one night the show was wild and loud,
And I saw a pretty girl out in the crowd.
She waved at him and caught his eye
The way he looked at her it made me cry.
String man
String man...string man...string man...
String man...string man...string man...
String man...string man...string man...
Who played guitar in a rock and roll band.
And every night I'd watch them play
But it happened at the matinee
How I squirmed when he bent those strings,
And I screamed when he started to sing.
The way he moved and looked so groovy,
Well, ya know, he did something to me.
String man...string man...string man...string man...
So I followed the string man
Who played guitar in a string band.
And every night I'd watch them play,
And they got better everyday.
Pretty soon, and what do ya think
(What do you think)
Everybody's saying they're the biggest thing
(The biggest thing)
Hit records and making the scene
(The scene)
Sexy pictures in the fan magazines.
String man...string man...string man...string man...
I strung along with the string man;
He always called me his biggest fan.
Though he was kind, I should have known better
Than to think we'd always stay together.
And then one night the show was wild and loud,
And I saw a pretty girl out in the crowd.
She waved at him and caught his eye
The way he looked at her it made me cry.
String man
String man...string man...string man...
String man...string man...string man...
String man...string man...string man...
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
String Man Lyrics as written by Michelle Gilliam John Edmund Andrew Phillips
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
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