Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Robin Millar

[Verse 1]
Over dale and over hills
I'll take you through the cotton mills
To the ginnels where we played
And where our friendships all were made

[Chorus]
Still they came and tore them down
And now we live in Anytown
Anytown
Oh, they came and tore it down
Now this place could be Anytown
Anytown

[Verse 2]
Can't forget and won't forgive
The places we've been forced to live
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But rather that than live alone

[Chorus]
For they came and tore it down
And now we live in Anytown
Oh, they came and tore it down
And now this place could be Anytown, hey

[Verse 3]
Rags to riches, that's a lie
For some things money just can't buy
Thicker than water blood may be
And comfort still brings misery

[Chorus]
For they came and tore it down
And now we live in Anytown
Anytown
Oh, they came and tore it down
And now this place could be Anytown
Anytown
For they came and tore it down
And now we live in Anytown, hey
Oh, they came and tore it down
And now this place could be Anytown
(Summer in the driving rain)
Anytown
(I can hear the Oldham train)
Hell they came and tore it down
And now this place could be Anytown
(Summer in the driving rain)
Oh
(I can hear the Oldham train)
They took the heart when they ripped it down
And in its place sent Anytown
(Summer in the driving rain)
Anytown
(I can hear the Oldham train)
And they took the heart when they ripped it down
And in its place sent Anytown
(Summer in the driving rain)
Anytown
(I can hear the Oldham train)

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

Love Not Money

From the album

Love Not Money (1985)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

AnytownEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Love Not Money