Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Ben Watt Tracey Thorn

[Verse 1: Ben Watt]
I met your boyfriend on St. Martin's Lane
And he said, "Fancy running into you again"
We talked a minute or so, then he turned to go
And I walked into the crowd again

[Verse 2: Ben Watt]
And the morning was a different place
In every passerby I saw your face
Love leaves a lonely ghost
With one thought uppermost
- is this the case in every case?

[Chorus: Ben Watt]
Am I walking to you?
Am I walking to you?
In everything that I do
Am I just walking to you?

[Verse 3: Tracey Thorn]
It was seven years ago to the day
You rang my house and we met halfway
We walked 'round Leicester Square and
Sat through 'Being There' and every moment of it I replay

[Verse 4: Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn]
And I was desperate for love to be pure
Though what that meant, I never was sure
You spent your time on me
I took it willingly
And I made you trust in literature

[Chorus: Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn]
Am I walking to you?
Am I walking to you?
In everything that I do
Am I just walking to you?
I just don't know what to do

[Bridge: Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn]
I just don't know what to do
I just don't know what to do
In everything that I do
Am I just walking to you?
I just don't know what to do
I just don't know what to do
In everything that I do
Am I just walking to you?

[Outro: Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn]
I just don't know what to do
Am I walking to you?
I just don't know what to do
Am I walking to you?
I just don't know what to do
Am I walking to you?
I just don't know what to do
Am I walking to you?

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

Amplified Heart

From the album

Amplified Heart (1994)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Walking to YouEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Amplified Heart