Released: June 13, 1994

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Ben Watt Tracey Thorn

[Verse 1]
And I see forests and it's the twenty-fifth of December
And my old man plays the piano for Christmas
He plays the piano for Christmas
And we're all there, all the aunties and uncles
And the angel's on the top of the tree
Up there on the top of the tree

[Chorus]
And I never, no I never ever realised
And I never, no I never ever realised

[Verse 2]
Have I enough time, have I just some time
To revisit, to go back, to return, to open my mouth again
And say something different this time?
And I see bags of newspaper and a car in the carport
And you're a grown-up and still unsure
And I'm thirty and I don't know nothin' no more

[Chorus]
And I never, no I never ever realised
And I never, no I never ever realised

[Verse 3]
And I'm sitting, sitting on the top of the stairs
And you're crying out on the towpath by the river
With all the swans and all the people walking by
And all of a sudden I'm stuck with an urge to unlock a door
With a key that's too big for my hands
And I drop it, and it falls at your feet
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet

[Chorus]
And I never, no I never ever realised
You see I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
And I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
You see I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
And I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
You see I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
And I never, no I never ever realised
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet
You see I never, no I never ever realised

Everything But The Girl

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.