Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

Producer: Tommy LiPuma

[Chorus]
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this

[Verse 1]
Me and Bobby D don't get along that easily
You told the world, "Be free, love life"
Tell me, is it true you beat your wife?
You see, me and Bobby D don't get along that easily
You told the world, "Skip rules have fun"
Knocked her from here to kingdom come?
How many girls have you had today?
And how many bottles have you downed today?
While you're on the skids, who's minding the kids?

[Chorus]
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this

[Verse 2]
Me and Saint Jack K never had too much to say
It's easy driving with your feet
With some good ol' girl in the passenger seat
Watching the road all day
"Oh honey, what funny things you do say"
But while you're out of your head
Who's making the bed?

[Chorus]
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this
Go to sleep Saint Jack K
Don't worry your tiny head today

[Verse 3]
Me and old Bobby D don't get along that famously
A saviour and a seer? Maybe
But he never meant that much to me
Sure, I'd love a wild life
But every wild man needs a mother or wife
The seven seas you roam and who's waiting
The seven seas you roam and who's waiting
The seven seas you roam and who's waiting at home?

[Chorus]
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this
Go to sleep Saint Jack K
Don't worry your tiny head today
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this
Go to sleep Saint Jack K
Don't worry your tiny head today

[Outro]
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss
Don't worry your pretty head about this

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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