Set The Fire To The Third Bar

I find the map and draw a straight line
我在地图上画出一条直线
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
穿越河流、农场与州界
The distance from here to where you’d be
这是你我的距离
It’s only finger-lengths that I see
看似只有一根手指的长度
I touch the place where I’d find your face
我想轻碰你的脸庞
My finger in creases of distant dark places
但需要多少根手指才能到达

I hang my coat up in the first bar
我踏进第一家酒吧 挂起外衣(注)
There is no peace that I’ve found so far
在这里我找不到一丝平静
The laughter penetrates my silence
只有四周的笑声突显了我的孤寂
As drunken men find flaws in science
我听见醉汉争论科学
Their words mostly noises
字字句句都是噪音
Ghosts with just voices
发出鬼魅般的声音
Your words in my memory
你的话语存留在我的回忆
Are like music to me
如音乐般动听

I’m miles from where you are,
你与我相距千里
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
希望谁能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
带我到你温暖的怀抱中

After I have traveled so far
历经长途旅行
We’d set the fire to the third bar
我们于第三间酒吧纵情(注)
We’d share each other like an island
我们如孤岛般拥抱彼此
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
直到累得闭上了双眼
And dreaming, pick up from
我们随着梦
The last place we left off
回到过去那地方
Your soft skin is weeping
我们享受彼此 却一边啜泣
A joy you can’t keep in
因为这喜悦难以延续

I’m miles from where you are,
你与我相距千里
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
希望谁能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
带我到你温暖的怀抱中

I’m miles from where you are,
你与我相距千里
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
希望谁能扶起我
And sets me down in your warm arms
带我到你温暖的怀抱中

(注) bar在这首歌里有双关，一方面可以指酒吧，歌词的意思就是走进酒吧里，但另一方面，bar也可以指英国常用的电子暖炉的按钮， the third bar 指的就是调到温度最高的按钮，作词者Gary Lightbody 曾有一段话:

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.”

这是 Gary Lightbody 的童年回忆，他说，阿姨答应只要他乖乖的，就可以把暖炉的温度调到最高，让整个房子暖起来，所以在首歌中，the third bar 就像征著温暖、温情，当然也包括了热情。

这是一首关于远距离恋情、关于思念的歌，叙述一对相隔两地无法相见的恋人。

前三段叙述的都是两人对于彼此的思念，因为时间、空间的间隔，造成两人虽然渴望彼此，却又无法得到满足，全心全意只思念著对方，于是身边的一切都变得不重要了，周围人们的话语都成了噪音，唯有继续怀念著对方，继续沉浸在回忆里，才有办法得到慰藉。

到了第四段，经过长途跋涉，两人终于在第三间酒吧相见，这里的 set fire to the third bar 指的是两人热情如火，甚至欲火焚身，历经种种考验终于在颓废荒凉中找到彼此，互相依偎。这一部分歌词将欲望描绘得很含蓄，只说 set fire 和 share each other like an island until exhausted ，指放纵自己长久以来压抑的欲望，享受情欲直到身体疲惫，最后相拥入眠。

很喜欢这首歌含蓄的表达爱情中的苦与乐，一切都是不言自明，将如此强烈的情感描绘得温柔动人。

Image sources 1, 2