Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Ben Watt

Producer: Robin Millar

[Verse 1]
And still he lies awake at night
Restless while every silence screams
And still she sleeps turned to the wall
He fears the onslaught of his dream

[Verse 2]
Touches her back but she doesn't stir
Then round her hands his fingers close
Feeling the ring that cost more than the car
All of those questions that never arose

[Verse 3]
And still she lies awake at night
Silently stares at the bedroom wall
Feeling his hand dare to touch her back
It's been a month since he started to paint the hall

[Verse 4]
And brightly burns the landing light
The baby's screaming down the hall
She shuts her eyes and she shuts her ears
She's had it up to here 'cause it's not his baby after all

[Trumpet Solo]

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

Eden

From the albums

Eden (1984)
Everything But the Girl (1984)

Everything But The Girl popular songs

Tender BlueEverything But The Girl

Everything But The Girl

Eden