Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

Producer: Everything But The Girl

[Verse 1]
I have been in league with cruelty
And charmless callous ways
I've been betrayed into believing
That those who never win should never play

[Verse 2]
Nothing succeeds quite like success
And to be doomed to second best
I mistook for failure, nothing more and nothing less
But if hate is peace and love is war
There's nothing there I feel's worth fighting for

[Bridge]
And anyway that's not my way
Anyway that's not my way
Anyway that's not my way

[Verse 3]
Disdain to be a grown-up fool
Who plays by adolescent rules
Where to be king is to be cruel
And constancy's an unprized jewel
Now I've abandoned all those crimes
And we'll endure without church bell chimes
I've abandoned all those crimes
And we'll endure without church bell chimes

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

Charmless Callous WaysEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Love Not Money