Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn Ben Watt

Producer: Ben Watt

From the top you can see so far into the distance
Look, it's downhill all the way from here
And getting there is quicker, let go and you just slide
Shouldn't take more then a year

I could almost like you
Now it's nearly over
Now you're feeling hopeless
Now you're looking older

I heard what you said
And I recognised those feelings
I know how hard it is to watch it go
And all the effort that it took to get there in the first place
And all the effort not to let the effort show

I could almost like you
Now it's nearly over
Now you've shown some weakness
Now you're looking over your shoulder

Who's gonna come and find you?

If you can ride the backlash
There's still time for a comeback
You don't have to lie down and die
But Lazarus he only did it the one time -
He couldn't face another try

I could almost like you
Now you're falling over
Now you're feeling hopeless
Now you're looking over your shoulder

Who's gonna come and find you?
Who's coming up behind you

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

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes

From the albums

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes (2005)
Temperamental (Deluxe Edition) (2015)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Downhill Racer (Kenny Dope Mix)Everything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes