Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt Tracey Thorn

Producer: Mike Hedges Everything But The Girl

[Verse 1]
Now and then
Do you wash your hands of me again?
Wish me anywhere but home
Drunk and on the end of your phone

[Verse 2]
From time to time
Do you guess what's really on my mind?
Guess that "How you keeping now?"
Means "Where are you sleeping now"

[Chorus]
But of course it's not polite
To ask you where you spent last night
And if I did you might
Reply that I have no right
And anyway I'm fine
Glad that you're no longer mine
If I should tell a lie
I'll cross my heart and hope to die

[Verse 3]
You'd be appalled
If you knew what I was doing when you called
Yes, I can see I'm blundering
Always end up wondering

[Chorus]
Will it ever be alright
To ask you where you spent last night?
And can it be polite
The way we never write
Of course I don't have the time
And anyway I'm fine
If I should tell a lie
I'll cross my heart and hope to die

[Instrumental]

[Chorus]
Oh, I know it's not polite
To ask you where you spent last night
And if I did you might
Reply that I have no right
And anyway I'm fine
Now you're no longer mine
If I should tell a lie
I'll cross my heart and hope to die
I hope we never die
I hope we never die
I hope we never die

[Outro]
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart
Cross my heart

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

Cross My HeartEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Like the Deserts Miss the Rain