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."
AKA! One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Eighty-nine!
It's baby baby baby baby portable rock!
Ok! something in my reality might have broke.
AKA! one.Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Eight-nine!
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
AKA! 1-.2.3-.4-5-6 Eighty-nine!
It's baby baby baby baby portable rock!
Ok! something in my reality might have broke.
AKA! 1-.2.3-.4-5-6 Eighty-nine!
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
It's baby baby baby baby portable rock!
Ok! something in my reality might have broke.
AKA! one.Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Eight-nine!
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
AKA! 1-.2.3-.4-5-6 Eighty-nine!
It's baby baby baby baby portable rock!
Ok! something in my reality might have broke.
AKA! 1-.2.3-.4-5-6 Eighty-nine!
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
I'll always do my thing
I'll always do my thing
I lied too, ever since I saw you -----
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Somewhere Only We Know
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