Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Robin Millar

[Verse 1]
We are not true
We are not pure
We are not right
Oh but still I'll steal to you at night
Too selfish by half
Too ugly by far
Oh but when your songs have been sung

[Chorus]
Come to me
Come to me
Come to me
Come to me

[Verse 2]
Rumours are rife
And winter blows cold
Reminds me of such wretched times
And yet all the same
Will never deign
To think ill of you

[Chorus]
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells (When all's well)
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells (When all's well)

[Bridge]
We are not true
We are not pure
We are not right

[Verse 3]
Amongst all the dross
The lies and the grief
There are so many things
You just wouldn't believe
Amongst all the dross
The lies and the grief

[Chorus]
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells (When all's well)
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells (When all's well)
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells (When all's well)
When all's well
My love is like cathedral bells

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

When All’s WellEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Love Not Money