I made an attempt at translating the Ulfuls song mune no...

I couldn't figure out what this line meant:
会いたいっていうよりも　そばにいたい

From what I can tell, 会いたい would be wanting to meet, っていう would make that 会いたい like a quotation/something being said... I don't get what the rest means. From what I could look up, よりも might mean something like "more than", and I dunno about the いたい... It just occured to me now that it could be いる?

My best guess was:
"I want to meet" I say from growing close to pain

おねがいします。

It's actually maybe a bit more simple than you're making it out to be, at least from my interpretation of things. You understand all of the components, you just aren't quite putting it together correctly.

I would translate it as something like "Instead of wanting to see you (meet you), I want to be at your side". I think "soba ni itai" is expressing more of a sense of permanence than "aitai". "soba ni itai" means "forever" so to speak, where as "aitai" is seeing you once and then who knows when I see you again.

The "tte iu" is probably what's tripping you. I wouldn't necessarily translate that part as literally "saying" something, as I don't necessarily think that's an important part of the phrase here.

Let me know if you have questions specifically about what I came up with!

Whoops, late response. Your translation makes better sense, and thanks for the explanation. I really wasn't sure how to work that よりも in there... I don't think I'd ever heard it before, and JWPce didn't have it in the dictionary.