Set the Fire to the Third Bar
| "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" | |||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright | |||||||||||||||||
| from the album Eyes Open | |||||||||||||||||
| Released | 13 November 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| Format | CD; 7" | ||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2005 | ||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:22 | ||||||||||||||||
| Label | Interscope | ||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Tom Simpson, Paul Wilson and Jonny Quinn | ||||||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Jacknife Lee | ||||||||||||||||
| Snow Patrol singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||
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"Set the Fire to the Third Bar" is a song from Snow Patrol's fourth album, Eyes Open, featuring Martha Wainwright on vocals. The song was released as a single on the 13 November 2006.
The song was the last track to be recorded for the album Eyes Open and was the third single released from the album. It was written especially with Martha in mind. Lightbody wrote the song in only 20 minutes and described it as the quickest he had ever written a song. The song title describes an electric heater. 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".
The song is about a long distance relationship and its lyrics talk of a couple involved in one: ("I'm miles from where you are") and their longing to be together again ("I pray that something picks me up/ And sets me down in your warm arms"). After their long journey to meet each ("After I have travelled so far") they would settle down in front of an electric bar fire ("We'd set the fire to the third bar") and enjoy being together and warm.
The song was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios, Westmeath, and Apollo Studios, Dublin.
The song has been remixed by Anu Pillai of the band Freeform Five, a friend of Gary Lightbody and Tom Simpson.
On November 12, 2009, Snow Patrol performed a version of "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" featuring Cheryl Cole for BBC Children In Need performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Snow Patrol have featured many guest vocalists for live performances of the song. Singers such as Lisa Hannigan, Miriam Kaufmann and actress Maria Doyle Kennedy have joined them during performances in the Republic of Ireland. In the United Kingdom they have been joined by artists such as Cheryl Cole, and for their Royal Albert Hall show Andrea Corr and unusually by a male vocalist, comedian James Corden. Shauna Tohill, from the band Silhouette, has also joined Snow Patrol for a live performance of this song.
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Wikipedia