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."
On the streets that you walk
I can not chase you
Like a priest in the dark
I can not taste you
If you think you know you can
Be nice lady, be like man
Everything, you know you can't have everything
In the fields of your love
I can not (fake) you
Why put wheels on a (doll)
I can not make you
If you think you know you can't
Be like aardvark, be like ants
Everything, you know you can't have everything
On the streets that you walk
I can not chase you
Like a priest in the dark
I can not taste you
Oh no, no
I can not chase you
Like a priest in the dark
I can not taste you
If you think you know you can
Be nice lady, be like man
Everything, you know you can't have everything
In the fields of your love
I can not (fake) you
Why put wheels on a (doll)
I can not make you
If you think you know you can't
Be like aardvark, be like ants
Everything, you know you can't have everything
On the streets that you walk
I can not chase you
Like a priest in the dark
I can not taste you
Oh no, no
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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