Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Elvis Costello

Producer: Ben Watt

[Intro]
One two three

[Verse 1]
Almost blue
Almost doing things we used to do
There's a boy here and he's almost you
Almost
All the things that your eyes once promised
I see in his too
Now your eyes are red from crying
Almost blue

[Bridge]
Flirting with this disaster became me
It named me as the fool who only aimed to be

[Verse 2]
Almost blue
It's almost touching it will almost do
There is part of me that's always true
Always
Not all good things come to an end now
It is only a chosen few
I've seen such an unhappy couple

[Outro]
Almost me
Almost you
Almost blue

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

Like the Deserts Miss the Rain

From the albums

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (1986)
Like the Deserts Miss the Rain (2002)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Almost BlueEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Like the Deserts Miss the Rain