Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Tommy LiPuma

[Verse 1]
Great mistakes are made
When love gets lonely far from home
Beds are empty, nights are long
And you miss him bad when you're on your own
That's how I let my fate begin
Threw back the sheets, let someone in
And thought that love would understand
But nothing ever goes as planned

[Chorus]
And now my baby don't love me any more
And I'm all done talking
My baby just walked up to the door
And kept right on walking

[Verse 2]
Now I would walk the earth
And back again just to change his mind
But I'm so compromised
I cannot say he's being unkind
Take me back to fields and woods
When we first met and love was good
It's that that really breaks his heart
A memory of how you start

[Chorus]
And now my baby don't love me any more
And I'm all done hoping
My baby just walked out of the door
And the door's still open

[Post-Chorus]
My baby (No no no)
Talking 'bout my baby
Don't love me (No no no)
My baby

[Verse 3]
Love has made mistakes before
It picks itself up off the floor
For most of us that's how we live
But my love never could forgive

[Chorus]
And now my baby don't love me any more
And I'm all done talking
My baby just walked out of the door
And kept right on walking
My baby don't love me
Talking about my sweet baby
My baby don't love me any more

[Post-Chorus]
My baby (No no no)
Talking 'bout my baby
Don't love me (No no no)
My baby
My sweet baby
My baby

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

The Language of Life

From the album

The Language of Life (1990)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

My Baby Don’t Love MeEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

The Language of Life