Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."
Yeah, hey
I want to travel south this year
I won't
Won't prevent safe passage here
Why you act crazy?
Not an act, maybe
So close, a lady
Shifty eyes, shady
Yeah, hey, yeah
Tears that soak a callous heart
Why you act frightened?
I am enlightened
Your weakness builds me
So someday you'll see
I stay away
Why you act crazy?
Not an act, maybe
So close, a lady
Shifty eyes, shady
I stay away
I stay away
I stay away
I stay away
I want to travel south this year
I won't
Won't prevent safe passage here
Why you act crazy?
Not an act, maybe
So close, a lady
Shifty eyes, shady
Yeah, hey, yeah
Tears that soak a callous heart
Why you act frightened?
I am enlightened
Your weakness builds me
So someday you'll see
I stay away
Why you act crazy?
Not an act, maybe
So close, a lady
Shifty eyes, shady
I stay away
I stay away
I stay away
I stay away
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It's a shame that people label him a junkie and can only see things through that lens. I think it drove him mad at times!
"...
You are blamed for all that is a mystery
whithin myself -- Burning
Oh, I pray that I might someday
Throw a blanket over that angry child
If the strength is found within the
Core of my being
His tears soak my heart and weight
it down
I am tired, I am numb, and I am so
very, very lonely.
I am . . ."
I also think about Angry Chair's quote "Weight of my heart, not the size..."