Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Elvis Costello

Producer: Everything But The Girl

[Intro]
One two three four

[Verse 1]
Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl
From the way you look I understand that you are not impressed
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
Take off your party dress
I'm not going to get too sentimental
Like those other sticky valentines
'Cause I don't know if you were loving somebody
I only know it isn't mine

[Chorus]
Alison
I know this world is killing you
Oh, Alison
My aim is true (Yeah)

[Verse 2]
I see you've got a husband now
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hands
I'll bet he took all he could take
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
When I hear the silly things that you say
I think somebody better put out the big light
'Cause I can't stand to see you this way

[Chorus]
Alison
I know this world is killing you
Oh, Alison
My aim is true
My aim is true
My aim is true (Yeah)
My aim is true
My aim is true
My aim is true
My aim is true

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.

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Covers EP

From the albums

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AlisonEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Covers EP