Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn

Producer: Ben Watt

[Verse 1]
Let me tell you 'bout this torch I carry
It's not much of a career
And it won't make my fortune I fear
But it stays alight and won't be buried
And it's brighter year by year
And someday it will surely disappear
When it does I'll know I've laid to rest
The ghost of your unhappiness
That creeps around from room to room
A widow on a honeymoon
A shadow on a harvest moon

[Verse 2]
So put away this torch you carry
For it's doing you no good
And surely you know by now that you should
And come the day you die or marry
Will you be understood
When you say that you wanted but never could
Turn your back and lay to rest
The ghost of your unhappiness
That flits around from room to room
A widow on a honeymoon
A shadow on a harvest moon (Yeah)

[Outro]
I write these words to make them true
"I've drowned my torch and so should you"
I write these words to make them true
"I've drowned my torch and so should you"
I write these words to make them true
"I've drowned my torch and so should you"

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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Idlewild

From the album

Idlewild (1988)

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Shadow on a Harvest MoonEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Idlewild