"Set the Fire to the Third Bar" as written by Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Jonathan Graham Quinn, Tom Simpson and Paul Wilson....
I find the map and draw a straight line
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
The distance from 'here' to where you'd be
It's only finger-lengths that I see
I touch the place where I'd find your face
My fingers in creases of distant dark places
I hang my coat up in the first bar
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science
Their words mostly noises
Ghosts with just voices
Your words in my memory
Are like music to me
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
After I have traveled so far
We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming, pick up from
The last place we left off
Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keep in
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
The distance from 'here' to where you'd be
It's only finger-lengths that I see
I touch the place where I'd find your face
My fingers in creases of distant dark places
I hang my coat up in the first bar
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science
Their words mostly noises
Ghosts with just voices
Your words in my memory
Are like music to me
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
After I have traveled so far
We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming, pick up from
The last place we left off
Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keep in
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
I'm miles from where you are
I lay down on the cold ground
And I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms
Lyrics submitted by blinxbcr, edited by TokyoKitten
"Set the Fire to the Third Bar" as written by Gary Lightbody Nathan Connolly
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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For me, it's about trying to find a replacement for your true love. You go from bar to bar hoping to meet someone special, ultimately getting frustrated. And when you can't find that same warmth you once had, you try and force it by manufacturing a destructive fire. Subconsciously, you're pretending it's her that you're with. Secretly, your brain is trying to find a way back into her arms.
The line, "until exhausted, close our eyelids" is telling about how he wishes he could go back to the naive fun of Shut Your Eyes. It's all very dream-like and surreal. Because it's times like these that the brain will do anything to not have to face the cold reality of being alone.
"The distance from A to where you B"
I think its about a long distance relationship. The two involved are so in love and long to be near each other but its not dat easy, but when they do see each other they're jus overwhelmed with the love they have 4 each other.
I may b goin a bit deep but dats wat i hear. Dis song is amazin!!!
"After I have traveled so far"
I agree that the lyrics are looking forward, the two lovers haven't been reunited yet.
"We'd set the fire to the third bar"
Is not a literal fire but is saying that nothing else would matter once they find each other. The search would be over. The fire as an image is important because the heat of a fire is in contrast to the cold he is enduring to reach his love.
"We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming pick up from
The last place we left off"
This reinforces that nothing else in the world matters but reaching her and being with her. The island image is brilliant. Note that an island is another warm image.
"Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keep it"
This is where I'm lost... "skin is weeping" could mean sweating (which again suggests warmth) but I don't understand "a joy you can't keep it." I wonder if she's dead or otherwise gone to him forever and his journey to find her will never end. Either that, or even if they find one another they can't stay together and he will be forced to return home but I feel like it's the former.
I watched a recording of a live performance of this and both Lightbody and Wainwright sing with such passion. Lightbody is shaking when he sings. So haunting and beautiful, tinged with desperation and yearning.
* * *
Not related to the meaning, but here is info from Snow Patrol's MySpace page: "Lightbody wrote the song towards the end of the album sessions and thought it would fit Wainwrights voice perfectly. By chance she was touring Ireland at the time. "Im not a great believer in fate." Says Lightbody. "But when someone called to say "Shes here, in this country and she wants to sing it, that was definitely "a moment."
"I hang my coat up in the first bar
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science"
...
"After I have traveled so far
We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming, pick up from
The last place we left off
Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keeping"
I think these two parts about the bar are saying it doesn't matter that other people are having a good time, because you are still "miles" from where you want to be -with the person you love. I think the whole "set the fire to the third bar" is because they were feeling so many emotions- happy, and mad, and sad that they just wanted to do something crazy.
Awesome
The start of the song is quite simple, 2 people serperated by a great distance are thinking about each other. I love how the 2 voices sing exactly the same thing through the whole song. It shows how you can be far away from someone but still be connected emotionally.
The person goes into a bar in order to try and stop feeling so lonely however it fails to work "Ghosts with just voices"
He/she then starts to imagine what it would be like if they were to meet each other again. I love where it comes in the album, right after "Make this go on for ever" and how it is almost the antithesis of it emotionally.
She goes to bars but feels cold and lonely without him, and just wishes that she could be with him, in his arms.
I think she is dreaming of meeting him - she imagines travelling far to be with him, and the passion will overcome her - when they say, we would set the fire to the third bar,' they are referring to this passion as a fire - it would be so 'hot' - like third degree burns, perhaps?
Share each other like an island - i think they are referring to each others bodies / presence, when they will be together - that is all that will matter to them, with the wide sea (world) surrounding them.
I think she then dreams of the last time they were together, physically. 'The joy you can't keep in' - could be sexual?
Just my thoughts.