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."
You are my Jack of hearts
Can't stand to be apart
It feels like doing time in my heart
Oh, let me into your heart
It feels like doing time in my heart
Yeah
Can't stand to be apart
It feels like doing time in my heart
Oh, let me into your heart
It feels like doing time in my heart
Yeah
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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