Set the Fire to the Third Bar

I love this track: it's so haunting, so desperate.

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.

When this song closes, I still sense a deep yearning so I don't believe that the two lovers are reunited. Everything makes sense as written until the second half.

"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 think it's about being far from someone you love, in distance and thought. All you have left of them is memory.

"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.

quality, i love martha wainwright. the chorus is uplifting in a way reminiscient of "run". her voice reminds me of kate bush. great song.

Yeah i agree with Belish, i love the line "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!!!

This song makes me think of someone very special. I was in a serious car accident a year ago. The first person to stop was a young guy and he stayed with me until the ambulance came, holding my hand and calming my nerves. Long story short, our paths crossed even more. We had mutual family friends; he went to school with some of my friends. I found him and we built a friendship. He moved to another state a few months ago. It feels so meant to be, and I think that's what this song conveys.

I believe most people here don't realise that the third bar refers to an old-fashioned electric heater which had three bars or elements which threw out this wierd intense heat for a distance of about 2 feet and heated very little else. They were very common in britain and ireland when people had no central heating in houses. They may still be found in old peoples houses and cheap studenty houses. Setting the fire to the third bar meant being really luxurious with the heat as this was the maximum setting and would cost you the most money. nice song.

Here are my thoughts...

I find the map and draw a straight line Over rivers, farms, and state lines The distance from A to where you'd 'B' 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

The singer is looking at a map. He's at point A, the lover or former lover he wants to see is at point B. He draws out his travel plan on the map and measures the distance in finger lengths (a common way to measure miles on a paper map). He touches the destination point where she's at. The creases are just creases on the map.

I hang my coat up in the first bar There is no peace that I've felt so far The laughter penetrates my silence As drunken men find flaws in science

He sets out and stops at his first stop along the way - the first bar. He still has no peace, because even though he's on a journey to see her, he still does not have her. He is in a state of meloncholy silence that the drunks' laughter keeps penetrating and interupting.

Their words mostly noises Ghosts with just voices Your words in my memory Are like music to me

He is focusing on her memory and her words. He loves to think about her. He barely hears the drunks anymore. Their just ghosts compared to the pleasure of her memory.

I'm miles from where you are, I lay down on the cold ground I pray that something picks me up And sets me down in your warm arms

He's still far away. It's exhausting to him. He wishes someone could just transport him to where she is at.

After I have travelled 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 it

This section is his vision of what would happen when he finally does arrive. Setting the fire to the third bar has to do with ramping up their passions when they meet at what would be the third bar where they meet. Perhaps it's a three day journey?

They make love. Just as one shares everything when stranded on a desert island with another, and you are completely dependant on each other, this is how they "share each other" when making love. Exhausted they fall asleep. THey're picking up where things left off.

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 I pray that something picks me up and sets me down in your warm arms

Unfortunately, the above is just a daydream he's having when laying on the cold ground. The reality is the journey is still so long and she's still so far away. He wishes someone could just get him there past the distance.

The woman singing indicates that she feels the sameway, even though she's far away and may not know he's coming.

Just my 2 cents.

This song is actually about the long distant relationshipo. They said that the songwriter's aunt would let them put the electric heater on to the third bar if they were very good. It's about them coming together and enjoying the warmth of being together in front of an electric heater

"They're lovers in two different places, miles apart. They cherish the memories they made while they were together. Later in the song, it says something about travelling so far. They're together again" Yes! The warmth and name of the song is "Set the fire to the third bar" refers to love and passion, 3rd bar is max setting on a old fashion heater.

This song is awesome b/c it illustrates, the lack of something really increasing the desire for it. ("Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows." - poet Sextus Propertius.

Great song to send to someone you really want that's currently far from you.