Everything But The Girl

Released: September 27, 1999

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

Producer: Ben Watt

[Verse 1]
You watch the phone like it was the TV
If you're all alone, well whose fault can that be?
Your keys, your bag, the car
They're where they always are

[Chorus]
And the light goes down and all the lights come on
And they call to me "oh come on, come on"
And you don't make, you don't make no difference to me, hey hey

[Verse 2]
You look at me, say "what you talking about?"
Well me, I'm going out, with or without
I know I don't get far and we're where we always are

[Chorus]
But the light goes down and all the lights come on
And they call to me "oh come on, come on"
And you don't make, you don't no difference to me, hey hey
You don't make no difference to me, hey
You don't make no difference to me, hey hey

[Verse 3]
So you fix a drink, cause its time to drown
And the clock speeds up and then it slows right down
The life that we have missed, I think it still exists
How can you resist?

[Chorus]
And the light goes down and all the streetlights shine
And they call to me, "you'll be dead a long time"
And it makes, it makes a difference to me

[Chorus]
And the light goes down and all the lights come on
And they call to me, "oh come on, come on"
You can make, you can make a difference to me
Come on, make a difference to me, hey hey
Come on, make a difference to me

[Verse 4]
So you fix a drink, cause its time to drown
And the clock speeds up and then it slows right down
The life that we have missed, I think it still exists
How can you resist?

[Chorus]
And the light goes down and all the streetlights shine
And they call to me, "you'll be dead a long time"
And it makes, it makes a difference to me, hey

[Chorus]
And the light goes down and all the lights come on
And they call to me, "oh come on, come on"
You can make, you can make a difference to me, hey hey

[Outro]
Come on, make a difference to me, hey hey
Come on, make a difference to me, hey hey

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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