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."
[Chorus]
She was going with a cinematographer
Never knew that he was really a pornographer
They went down to the dance and grind
And everybody was feelin’ fine
She was talkin’ with syllable lisp
And everybody she knew was gonna get the twist
And they all went down and did a porcupine
And everybody was feeling high
You are so hot
I would like to steal your digits
And I'm so hung up on it
I would like to move away from it
We are so caught up with things
We should pull each others’ triggers,
And I'm off
She was going with a cinematographer
Never knew that he was really a pornographer
They went down to the dance and grind
And everybody was feelin’ fine
She was talkin’ with a syllable lisp
And everybody she knew was gonna get the twist
And they all went down and did the porcupine
And everybody was feeling high
(You thought you were smokin’)
I've got a girlfriend out of the city
I know I like her, I think she is pretty [x4]
[long instrumental part]
(Last call!)
It's closing time
It’s closing
It’s closing time
It’s closing time
It’s closing
It’s closing time
It’s closing time
I'm on the road to God
Don’t know my brain's the burger and my heart's the charcoal [x2]
It's closing time
It’s closing time
She was going with a cinematographer
Never knew that he was really a pornographer
They went down to the dance and grind
And everybody was feelin’ fine
She was talkin’ with syllable lisp
And everybody she knew was gonna get the twist
And they all went down and did a porcupine
And everybody was feeling high
You are so hot
I would like to steal your digits
And I'm so hung up on it
I would like to move away from it
We are so caught up with things
We should pull each others’ triggers,
And I'm off
She was going with a cinematographer
Never knew that he was really a pornographer
They went down to the dance and grind
And everybody was feelin’ fine
She was talkin’ with a syllable lisp
And everybody she knew was gonna get the twist
And they all went down and did the porcupine
And everybody was feeling high
(You thought you were smokin’)
I've got a girlfriend out of the city
I know I like her, I think she is pretty [x4]
[long instrumental part]
(Last call!)
It's closing time
It’s closing
It’s closing time
It’s closing time
It’s closing
It’s closing time
It’s closing time
I'm on the road to God
Don’t know my brain's the burger and my heart's the charcoal [x2]
It's closing time
It’s closing time
Lyrics submitted by numb, edited by Jate, Spiritus22, ApacheTomcat, DewfordDuck
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Somewhere Only We Know
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