Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn

Producer: Robin Millar

[Verse 1]
Don't show your tears boy
They'll laugh you out the house
Got to be a man now
Anything less is just not allowed
But don't keep it quiet girl
Don't rest until
They come 'round to your way of thinking
Soon enough they will

[Chorus]
And all this talk of love
When that's something you've never known
It's too undignified, and much too close
It's much too close to home

[Verse 2]
Times are tough and
That's no way to live
Well you may be right
But I don't like your alternative
And times like these
They sort the boys out from the men
And down here with the girls
Is where I end up again

[Chorus]
And all this talk of love
When that's something you've never known
It's too undignified, and much too close
It's much too close to home

[Bridge]
Well should I say well done
When I know how he was stung
You were his prize and jewel
You turned out to be cruel
But I always rejoice
To see us win some ground from off the boys

[Chorus]
And all this talk of love
When that's something you've never known
It's too undignified, and much too close
It's much too close
Much too close, it's much too close to home

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

Eden

From the albums

Eden (1984)
Everything But the Girl (1984)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Laugh You Out the HouseEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Eden