Set The Fire To The Third Bar

I find the map and draw a straight line
我在地圖上畫出一條直線
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
穿越河流、農場與州界
The distance from here to where you’d be
這是你我的距離
It’s only finger-lengths that I see
看似只有一根手指的長度
I touch the place where I’d find your face
我想輕碰你的臉龐
My finger in creases of distant dark places
但需要多少根手指才能到達

I hang my coat up in the first bar
我踏進第一家酒吧 掛起外衣(註)
There is no peace that I’ve found so far
在這裡我找不到一絲平靜
The laughter penetrates my silence
只有四周的笑聲突顯了我的孤寂
As drunken men find flaws in science
我聽見醉漢爭論科學
Their words mostly noises
字字句句都是噪音
Ghosts with just voices
發出鬼魅般的聲音
Your words in my memory
你的話語存留在我的回憶
Are like music to me
如音樂般動聽

I’m miles from where you are,
你與我相距千里
I lay down on the cold ground
我倒在冰冷的地板上思念你
I, I pray that something picks me up
希望誰能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
帶我到你溫暖的懷抱中

After I have traveled so far
歷經長途旅行
We’d set the fire to the third bar
我們於第三間酒吧縱情(註)
We’d share each other like an island
我們如孤島般擁抱彼此
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
直到累得閉上了雙眼
And dreaming, pick up from
我們隨著夢
The last place we left off
回到過去那地方
Your soft skin is weeping
我們享受彼此 卻一邊啜泣
A joy you can’t keep in
因為這喜悅難以延續

I’m miles from where you are,
你與我相距千里
I lay down on the cold ground
我倒在冰冷的地板上思念你
I, I pray that something picks me up
希望誰能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
帶我到你溫暖的懷抱中

I’m miles from where you are,
你與我相距千里
I lay down on the cold ground
我倒在冰冷的地板上思念你
I, I pray that something picks me up
希望誰能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
帶我到你溫暖的懷抱中

(註) bar在這首歌裡有雙關，一方面可以指酒吧，歌詞的意思就是走進酒吧裡，但另一方面，bar也可以指英國常用的電子暖爐的按鈕， the third bar 指的就是調到溫度最高的按鈕，作詞者Gary Lightbody 曾有一段話:

While writing in the freezing cold and wearing fingerless gloves Lightbody recalled that as a child his Aunt Jean had an electric heater, and “if we were very good and it was very cold, she’d let us put all three bars on” and he goes on to say how it represents “a beacon of warmth within a song about distance.”

這是 Gary Lightbody 的童年回憶，他說，阿姨答應只要他乖乖的，就可以把暖爐的溫度調到最高，讓整個房子暖起來，所以在首歌中，the third bar 就像徵著溫暖、溫情，當然也包括了熱情。

這是一首關於遠距離戀情、關於思念的歌，敘述一對相隔兩地無法相見的戀人。

前三段敘述的都是兩人對於彼此的思念，因為時間、空間的間隔，造成兩人雖然渴望彼此，卻又無法得到滿足，全心全意只思念著對方，於是身邊的一切都變得不重要了，周圍人們的話語都成了噪音，唯有繼續懷念著對方，繼續沉浸在回憶裡，才有辦法得到慰藉。

到了第四段，經過長途跋涉，兩人終於在第三間酒吧相見，這裡的 set fire to the third bar 指的是兩人熱情如火，甚至慾火焚身，歷經種種考驗終於在頹廢荒涼中找到彼此，互相依偎。這一部分歌詞將欲望描繪得很含蓄，只說 set fire 和 share each other like an island until exhausted ，指放縱自己長久以來壓抑的慾望，享受情慾直到身體疲憊，最後相擁入眠。

很喜歡這首歌含蓄的表達愛情中的苦與樂，一切都是不言自明，將如此強烈的情感描繪得溫柔動人。

Image sources 1, 2