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."
I saw a white rose
in a field of red flowers the other day,
and ever since,
I couldn't get you out of my thoughts.
You feel like the clouds.
You leave an after taste
like sweet sugary rain.
Even forever fades.
Please make this last.
Don't wake me.
Don't spoil the moment.
Just stare into my eyes,
that's all I ask.
Lay with me in the stars.
Hold me tight
so they'll never burn out.
Fall asleep in each other's arms,
and we'll kill the morning.
in a field of red flowers the other day,
and ever since,
I couldn't get you out of my thoughts.
You feel like the clouds.
You leave an after taste
like sweet sugary rain.
Even forever fades.
Please make this last.
Don't wake me.
Don't spoil the moment.
Just stare into my eyes,
that's all I ask.
Lay with me in the stars.
Hold me tight
so they'll never burn out.
Fall asleep in each other's arms,
and we'll kill the morning.
Lyrics submitted by emo kicks rap neday
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