Analyzing Song Lyrics.

The White Stripes
I'm Finding it Hard to be a Gentlemen

This song is about a man who's a bit tired of dealing with a high maintenance woman. His frustration is evident right from the title. He's being a good guy, he's bending over backwards for her and it's just no longer working. It could be a story about how as a relationship loses it's magic over the time and how the little things no longer make anyone happy.

Well I'm finding it harder
to be a gentleman every day
all the manners that I've been taught
have slowly died away
but if I held the door open for you
It wouldn't make your day

He was raised to be a good guy, to be respectful and polite. But even simple acts of kindness don't seem to get a response from her

You think that I care
about me and only me
when every single girl needs help
climbing up a tree
well I know it don't take much
to satisfy me

These seem to be quotes from a fight they had or have often. The opening line is a response back to this imaginary person. It kind of seems like it's a fight they are having in his own head. The line "when every single girl needs help climbing up a tree" makes we think that their fight arises from him trying to help her and she doesn't think she needs help.

Maybe it's whatever's in my head
that's distracting me
but if i could find emotion
to stimulate devotion
well then you'd see

This stanza makes it seem like he no longer has the energy to even try anymore. His emotional state is shot and he can't even muster up the energy to help anymore.

Well I'm finding it hard to say
that I need you twenty times a day
I feel comfortable so baby why
don't you feel the same?
have a doctor come and visit us
and tell us which one is sane

Here is where the strongest argument comes that this is about being in a relationship with someone who is insecure. He must keep reassuring her so much that he can't take it anymore. At this point in the song he is screaming the last line and then his guitar rips out the rest of his frustration.

Well I never said I wouldn't
Throw my jacket in the mud for you
but my father gave it to me so
maybe I should carry you
then you said
"You almost dropped me"
so then I did
and I got mud on my shoes

This is my favorite part of the song. The metaphors just build off one another in a great way and end with the dropping of her. Even when he carries over the mud, she still complains that she was almost dropped. So he does drop her (in the mud and out of his life) but when he drops her and his shoes (and his mood) but get muddy.

I like this song because I cam come at from both sides. I have been the person who has to constantly reassure someone and I have been the person who needs that reassurance. I think the song captures how draining it is to one side of that relationship.

Jack White is the man.