Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn

Producer: Ben Watt

[Verse 1]
I went up to the Hollywood hills
The sun was shining and the sky was blue
I thought this is no place for me
You can dream what you like
This is not my history

[Verse 2]
This is the place where stars have died
This is the place where madmen reside
There's a drunk shouting 'bout who must die
What the hell do I know about this life?

[Chorus]
Oh, get me on the next plane home
London, all is forgiven
Two weeks shaking hands with fools
Well what a way to earn a living

[Verse 3]
I went out to see Marilyn's grave
Stuck in a wall and they didn't even know her name
There's just a stone in the vault of the sky
Lay me down below mountains when I die

[Chorus]
Now, get me on the next plane home
London, all is forgiven
This place don't shine, never did
And it's no place to earn a living

[Bridge]
When the top dogs send for me
I won't cry, though they show me their teeth
My ground I'll stand
I got my plane ticket in my other hand

[Verse 4]
So the next day I flew home
And no one had noticed I had been gone
Tinseltown you lost your bet
But taught me something I won't forget

[Chorus]
And now I'm home
London, I'll never bother
With a place who's motto is
Another day, another dollar

[Outro]
Another day, another dollar
The colonels lead and the President follows
Another day, another dollar
The colonels lead and the President follows
Another day, another dollar
Another day, another dollar

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

Idlewild

From the album

Idlewild (1988)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Another Day, Another DollarEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Idlewild