Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

Producer: Mike Hedges Everything But The Girl

[Verse 1]
Married in black, divorced in white
Though daddy tried to teach her wrong from right
It's hard to resist on a wintry night
When you're out of mind, when you're out of sight
This you shouldn't
And this you should
Oh, but Sugar Finney never could be good
Never could be good

[Verse 2]
I've grown a little weary of this old town
A conscience sure can bring you down
I'd like to hang around Chicago bars
With murderers and movie stars
And presidents who'd rather be
Alone with would-be sinners like me

[Chorus]
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy

[Verse 3]
They say Sugar Finney went off her head
Lay once a month in a blood stained bed
But me, I'm careful where I tread
No handsome boy will ever leave me dead
For beauty is no guarantee
I'll take the looks and the rest you can keep

[Chorus]
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy, yeah

[Verse 4]
For beauty is no guarantee
I'll take the looks and the rest you can keep
The rest you can keep
I hope it makes you happy
Sugar Finney

[Chorus]
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy

[Outro]
Children pray for me
Such is the price of infamy
Tell them I was never happy
Goodbye Bobby Kennedy
In the White House still asleep
Goodnight Jackie Kennedy
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy
America is free
Cheap and easy

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

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

From the album

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (1986)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Sugar FinneyEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright