Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time on my own
I don't want to cause any serious damage
I want to make sure that I can manage
Because I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head

And I see love and disaffection
And the clouds build up and won't pass over
This is my road to my redemption
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway

I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time in my room
And I'm not coming out until I feel ready
Not running out for a while my heart's unsteady
And I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head

When you sky falls to minus zero
Well some things must disappear
Oh this is my road to my redemption

And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
The names may have been changed but the faces are the same
The names may have been changed but as people we're not the same

And I'm not, no I'm not, no I'm not
Really in your head

And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
Yeah, my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway

Originating at the turn of the 1980s as a leader of the lite-jazz movement, Everything but the Girl became an unlikely success story more than a decade later, emerging at the vanguard of the fusion between pop and electronica.

Founded in 1982 by Hull University students Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, the duo took their name from a sign placed in the window of a local furniture shop, which claimed “for your bedroom needs, we sell everything but the girl.” At the time of their formation, both vocalist Thorn and songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Watt were already signed independently to the Cherry Red label; Thorn was a member of the sublime Marine Girls, while Watt had issued several solo singles and also collaborated with Robert Wyatt.

Everything but the Girl debuted in 1982 with a samba interpretation of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”; the single was a success on the U.K. independent charts, but the duo nonetheless went on hiatus as Thorn recorded a solo EP, A Distant Shore, while Watt checked in with the full-length North Marine Drive in 1983. EBTG soon reunited to record a cover of the Jam’s “English Rose” for an NME sampler; the track so impressed former Jam frontman Paul Weller that he invited the duo to contribute to the 1984 LP Cafe Bleu, the debut from his new project, the Style Council.

more tracks from the album

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes

From the album

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes (2005)

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Everything But The Girl

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes