Ben met Tracey when they were at Hull University and she was singing in pop girl-band Marine Girls. Ben contributed a photograph, for a forthcoming album cover, after which, the pair became partners (later getting married). They formed Everything But the Girl in 1982, the name inspired by a Turner's Furniture advertising slogan (a popular store near the university). For a period, Tracey was active in both bands and the album with Ben's photo materialised, Lazy Ways (Apr 1983), which was to be Marine Girls' last. EBTG soon achieved national success and singles from The Language of Life (1990), got VH-1 airtime - heralding USA notoriety.
Once internationally established, they successfully achieved one of the greatest stylistic changes in modern music; originally a 'folk-pop with jazz influences' band, their fortunes changed with Amplified Heart (Jul 1994) and Todd Terry's successful remix of its track "Missing" (Aug 1994). Since then, EBTG have become more widely known as an electronic act, with Walking Wounded (May 1996), being a well-received example of their metamorphosed sound.
As of 1999, EBTG as a duo are currently on hiatus, as the couple raise their children, out of the public eye. Watt is a very successful club DJ, Buzzin Fly label-manager and remixer, releasing several 'Lazy Dog' mix compilations (named after his London-based deep house night).
Thorn's 2006 collaboration with Tiefschwarz, on the underground hit song "Damage", seems to have re-awoken her artistic spirit and she released a second solo album, Out of the Woods (Mar 2007).
As of March 2023 evidence that the hiatus will end soon emerges in an interview with Alexis Petridis, in which the release date of the new album 'Fuse' is given as 21 April. This new music was first mentioned by Tracy Thorn on twitter in late 2022, and now it emerging, with 2 new singles already released
Better Things
Everything But the Girl Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just because you're down
Just 'cause you're blue
Don't make me too
And though you've found you need more then me
Don't talk to me about being free
That's freedom without love
Magic without love
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
You say the magic's gone
Well I'm not a magician
You say the sparks gone
Well get an electrician
And save your lying about needing to be free
Oh that's bullshit baby just want rid of me
Freedom without love
Magic without love
Magic without love
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
The lyrics to Everything But the Girl's song Better Things is a plea from one person to another to not drag them down just because they are feeling down. The singer acknowledges that the other person may need more than what they can offer, but they don't want to hear about freedom without love or magic without love. The idea is that true freedom and true magic are only possible when there is love involved. The lyric "better things will surely come my way" is an optimistic outlook, even though there may be temporary struggles and difficulties in relationships, the singer believes that good things will come eventually.
The song speaks to the idea of the importance of love in freedom and magic. The lyrics suggest that true freedom and true magic are not possible without love, which is a powerful concept. The idea of a relationship being about more than just two people, but about the concept of love, is at the core of the song. Additionally, the lyrics suggest that sometimes people use the idea of needing to be free as an excuse to end a relationship, rather than recognizing the deeper issues that may be present.
Overall, the song's message is about the importance of love and recognizing when it's time to let go of a relationship that's not working. It's about acknowledging the difficulties that come in relationships while still maintaining a sense of hope for better things to come.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't drag me down
Please don't bring me down
Just because you're down
Just because you're feeling low
Just 'cause you're blue
Just because you're sad
Don't make me too
Please don't make me feel the same way
And though you've found you need more then me
Even though you've realized you need more than just me
Don't talk to me about being free
Don't use the idea of freedom as an excuse to end our relationship
That's freedom without love
Being free but without love is not what I want
Magic without love
Having magic, but not love, is pointless
Magic without love
Having magic, but not love, is pointless
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
I am hopeful that good things will happen for me in the future
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
I am hopeful that good things will happen for me in the future
You say the magic's gone
You say that the magic in our relationship is gone
Well I'm not a magician
I cannot magically fix everything in our relationship
You say the sparks gone
You say that the sparks in our relationship are gone
Well get an electrician
I can't fix the sparks, so maybe you should look elsewhere for help
And save your lying about needing to be free
Stop lying and pretending that you need to be free when you really just want to end this
Oh that's bullshit baby just want rid of me
I know that you don't really need to be free, you just want to end things between us
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
I am still hopeful that good things will happen for me in the future
Hear me say better things will surely come my way
I am still hopeful that good things will happen for me in the future
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ROBERT DEL NAJA, ANDREW LEE ISAAC VOWLES, GRANTLEY MARSHALL, TRACEY ANNE THORN, BEN WATT, JAMES BROWN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind