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."
What's her name today?
What's her name today?
She could be anyone
I might have known you'd leave her crying
What's her name again?
You should be ashamed
How could you treat her so unspeakably?
Or did you think she was a different girl?
For as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Was she the one who took away your pride
And your reason?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?
What's her name today?
What's her name today?
Is her hair hanging down?
Or maybe it's fixed with a ribbon
Are her eyes still blue?
Should she trust in you?
Because it's a lonely world
She wants to believe for a while in all the things you say
But as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Isn't her smile reminiscent of someone else?
Well, is it or isn't it?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?
What's her name today?
Is she going to stay
So you can ruin her?
And soon she'll be twisted in chiffon
Dress her like a doll
String her like a pearl
She hears peals of bells, but it's hard to tell
Now that she's hung up like a chandelier
What's her name?
What's her name?
What's her name today?
What's her name today?
She could be anyone
I might have known you'd leave her crying
What's her name again?
You should be ashamed
How could you treat her so unspeakably?
Or did you think she was a different girl?
For as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Was she the one who took away your pride
And your reason?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?
What's her name today?
What's her name today?
Is her hair hanging down?
Or maybe it's fixed with a ribbon
Are her eyes still blue?
Should she trust in you?
Because it's a lonely world
She wants to believe for a while in all the things you say
But as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Isn't her smile reminiscent of someone else?
Well, is it or isn't it?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?
What's her name today?
Is she going to stay
So you can ruin her?
And soon she'll be twisted in chiffon
Dress her like a doll
String her like a pearl
She hears peals of bells, but it's hard to tell
Now that she's hung up like a chandelier
What's her name?
What's her name?
What's her name today?
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Somewhere Only We Know
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