Everything But The Girl

Songwriter: Tracey Thorn

Producer: Robin Millar

[Verse 1]
Spending time with him again
Intending to put things back when they were alright
Just when we reach dry land
Why must it all get out of hand again tonight?
Drinking till my tongue got loose
And thinking that the way it used to be was wrong
Staying till the evening's wrecked
By saying things just for effect, went on too long

[Bridge]
I used to think that you were all that kept me sane
When all else failed
Now I think you were
Probably what drove me off the rails
Ba da da da da da da da da da

[Verse 2]
Talking with our voices raised
And walking home to silent days and tears
I said I would rather shout
For after all what's love to cry about?
I used to think that you would hold out best of us all
Am I flattering myself
Or was I the one who made you cynical?
Ba da da da da da da da da da

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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Eden

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Eden (1984)

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Everything But The Girl

Eden