Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Ben Watt

[Verse 1]
You can get far too used to sharing your time
But I'm way past caring about mine
You can accustom yourself to being on your own
But you shouldn't get used to being to alone

[Chorus]
For this is no guessing game
I love you to my shame
A love dyed in the grain
Dyed in the grain (Hey, hey)

[Verse 2]
But if loving were easy we wouldn't be here
Still slamming doors and ending in tears
As if we're so loathe to be too content
We'd rather be cruel although it's not meant

[Chorus]
This is no guessing game
I love you to my shame
A love dyed in the grain
Dyed in the grain

[Bridge]
On a bright winter's night
I heard his car pull up outside
And I was a fool, I took revenge just to cover my pride (Yeah)
When love comes by it sweeps you up
It's hard to keep your head above water
And what is love if it's not there to take the mistakes

[Chorus]
This is no guessing game
I love you to my shame
A love dyed in the grain
Dyed in the grain

[Outro]
Love you to my shame
Love dyed in the grain
Love dyed in the grain
Dyed in the grain
Love you to my shame
Love dyed in the grain
I love you to my shame
Dyed in the grain
Love you to my shame
Love dyed in the grain
Love dyed in the grain
Dyed in the grain
Love you to my shame

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

Dyed in the GrainEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Idlewild