Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn

Producer: Ben Watt

[Verse 1]
Oh, I wish you could be here to see the flowers
They only smell so sweet since you’ve been gone
And on the day you left they bloom for hours
To compensate me for what you had done

[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, but I don’t wish misfortune on your head
For I’m as much to blame on when all is said

[Chorus]
So wherever you may be
And in whichever land you roam
I hope there'll always be
A place you can call home from home

[Verse 2]
And I wish you could be here to see the baby
She's growing and she's walking now so tall
And I’m a working woman now and maybe
A child don’t need a daddy much at all

[Pre-Chorus]
And yes I’ve got a front door and a bed
Oh, but a home's more than a roof above your head

[Chorus]
So wherever you may be
And in whichever land you roam
I hope there'll always be
A place you can call home from home
And whoever you love
And how many good friends you know
I hope you'll always have
A place you can call home from home
A home from 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.

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From the album

Idlewild (1988)

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Home From HomeEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

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