Between this song and I Took A Pill In Ibiza, I think we’ve proven that the correct use of a dance beat can make a song infinitely sadder than an acoustic guitar ever could.

If you wanna know how powerful the line "I miss you like the deserts miss the rain" is, the video clip for this song is titled something like "Missing by Everything but the Girl" and it has 6 million views. Meanwhile a video of only a desert with this song playing in the background titled "I miss you like the deserts miss the rain" has 22 million views.

Heads-up: this band just announced that they're reuniting and will be releasing their first album in 24 years this spring! This video is a fun refresher once I saw that bit of news!

Fun fact: Everything but the Girl's album "Baby, The Stars Shine Bright" became the name of a Japanese fashion brand because the founders loved them so much.

I miss you like the shadows missed the Todd

After watching this episode, I learned that my mom loves Everything But the Girl and I've had like six of their cds in my house for pretty much my entire life. Who woulda thunk it?

Fun fact: The band's "failed follow up" album, Walking Wounded, is one of the entries in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" (along with their 1988 album Idlewild).

every time todd uses "techno" as a catch-all for electronic music i cry

"A biome of sheer misery" would be a great name for an album.

Everytime someone calls Teardrop by Massive Attack "the House theme" my heart breaks a little.

I've been an EBTG fan since the beginning. And yes, they deserve more credit and success. They are both excellent musicians. Tracy is a wonderful writer - she's published 3 books and writes a bi-weekly column in the UK. Ben is still making music and touring as a solo artist. They actually have 3 kids and are still married. Thanks for this! And thanks for seeing their greatness.

As a resident of Bristol, I feel naturally defensive of Massive Attack.

Remixes that become bigger hits than the original song always fascinate me. It shows that a producer/dj that actually puts thought into flipping a song can do good things with it.

You know, after so many underappreciated bands on this show as of late, can we finally get one that's totally, completely and entirely deserving of having be relegated to one-hit wonderland? So, do Dog Police.

I sometimes think about the story in this song since you really don't get any answers. "Low key, and haunting and fucking heartbreaking." 100% agreed.

"Everything But the Girl" is up there with "Living in a Box" for best band name you've covered

This is one of my mum's favourite songs. I've heard it probably somewhere in the region of 47,000 times, and only *NOW* do I learn that the line is "Like the deserts miss the rain" and not "Like a desert's mystery."

...And today, January 10, 2023 they've released their first new song in 24 years with an album also on the way. Go check it out NOW

Tracey has such a magnificent voice. She reminds me a lot of the R&B singer Sade.

"A biome of sheer misery" is the title of Todd's greatest hits album

Everything But The Girl will still remain one of the worlds most underrated bands

Todd and uploading at ungodly hours name a more dynamic duo

Arizona resident here. "Biome of sheer misery" is accurate AF

Honestly, I feel like exploring this band's pre-hit records right now. What Todd put in this video sounds damn good.

and here we are, there’s a new single

I had never heard of these two before but I respect the hell out of them now. They definitely deserved better, and I think it's pretty cool that they decided to take a step back to focus more on raising their kids.

She even looks like a female mix of Robert Smith and Morrissey.

Tracey has barely aged. Missing is such an identifiable song from the 90s. Their other music has really been slept on. It's really quite good. I didn't realise the extent of their music catalogue.

There was one other big trip-hop crossover in the United States that actually reminds me a lot of Tracey Thorne. That being Dido. You all remember Dido, right? Most people probably only know her for singing the song that Eminem sampled for "Stan", recontextualizing what was originally a mellow, tribal, folk-y love song into... well, "Stan". But she actually had a couple of hits in the early 2000s after that. While she's not a trip-hop artist, she was heavily involved in that scene, doing vocals for the act Faithless (a group her brother is part of), and her own music is heavily influenced by trip-hop and electronica. She's a great artist if you're into more mellow, female singer-songwriter-y music with a more electronic flare to it. Even though she's not a one-hit wonder (she had two charting hits, "Thank You" and "White Flag"), I would love for Todd to cover Dido on this show at some point. I brought her up simply because Tracey Thorne's voice and overall vibe reminds me so much of Dido.

Yes, Shadow Father

The house theme? You mean teardrop by massive attack? One of the best songs ever made? Call it by its name sir.

Her vocals on massive attacks protection are as beautiful as her vocals in missing.

Ugh, typical mainstream songs telling deserts that they need rain to lead a fulfilling life. I am a strong, independent desert who don't need no rain! Also rattlesnakes suck.

>if they were known to be an item, indie scene would have eaten that up because it's so starved for gossip. I think that right there is the reason. Any other scene, they may have been comfortable being forthcoming about it because by the sounds of it, their relationship is exceedingly stable and that wouldn't get much hype in a scene where there's plenty of juicy gossip. But a scene that's full of people just ITCHING to have SOMETHING to gossip about? That would have been awful for them.

"Trip hop's one quasi-hit over here in America" (Stares in Sour Times)

I just noticed after watching Todd for years that he's reading the script for the video on that piece of paper.

I always heard that the name was because they played jazz and bossa nova but they didn't like to play the girl from Ipanema,so they played everything but the girl.

Their upbeat singles still sound heartbreakingly sad to me. I think it’s just the girl’s sultry voice

As a Brit, I can safely say I have never heard of "One sweet day," and that Missing is a jam x

I feel like I’ve fallen into an alternate universe. First of all I thought I’d seen every one hit wonderland but I haven’t seen this one, but also I’ve never heard or heard of this song, or any song he mentions in the entire video, including One Sweet Day which is apparently the biggest billboard hit of all time.

Got here while it still had the “OHW Missing” temp title

Todd, ever thought about doing a One Hit Genreland? Indepth video on a particular niche genre ?

I'm 33 years old, and today I found out that the lyrics are not "like a desert's mystery."

At some point, back when the OHW commissions were cheaper, I seriously considered paying to request an episode about that song, so, whoever asked for this, THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES

Is it weird that The Cranberries almost seem like what this band would've been if they'd have actually gotten successful a lot sooner than they had? Like the '80's era of this band, for some reason, kinda reminds me of what The Cranberries turned out to be or something.

Come on now Todd, if they are happily married with two kids, they're still living well on their music careers, and they still enjoy making music, I'd say they succeeded very well. Becoming more famous would have started interfering with their family life, and if that's more important to them, I'd say that's a great decision.

I'm surprised how many people here say they don't remember this song from back then. Todd might be under-selling it, this song was absolutely huge. I lived through the '90s, I was there, this song played regularly on the radio for what seemed like years. Hell, it was on the charts so long I swore somebody else like Mariah Carey must've recorded a cover version and that somehow might've charted. Obviously looking that up now, apparently that didn't happen, but it sure seemed like it had. I wasn't complaining, it's a great song, but this was huge.

For those wondering: Tracey Thorn does have a Twitter now, and she occasionally tweets about doing things with Ben. So I'm about... 90%? sure they're still together.

"The British are terrible at hip hop" I have a call from Stormzy on line three, Todd.

The deserts miss the rain, but I'm only happy when it rains.

Funny thing, I have literally never heard of "One sweet day". And I was in high school at the time. Wild. "Missing" I've heard about a million times, and I certainly remember when it hit.

It's even sadder when you realize that a desert used to be an ocean, full of life.

Ok, this remix is NOT techno and NOT trip-hop. This is a straight up deep house remix

1:09 I GOT THE HORSES IN THE BACK

I forgot all about this song until now. I missed it. Like the dessert misses the rain.

This was a formative track in my life at a time when I was trying to figure out my relationship with music. Thank you EBTG.

Only 2018 teens-adults remember OHW: Missing

Wooh! Todd finally mentions trip hop and Massive Attack!

Their album "Walking wounded" is one of my favorite albums of all time

Todd, long time fan. Thanks so much for covering Everything but the Girl. If you like Tracey Thorn, you should check out her appearance on Style Council's first album. The song is called "The Paris Match" and is a definite highlight on probably one of the most underrated albums Paul Weller ever made!

Also, this song sounds like a preamble for a lot of what The XX did a decade later

I think Todd has missed an example of trip-hop in the US charts, ironically involving an artist he references in the video. That's the 1990 DNA remix of Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner. It was an unauthorised re-mix, but Suzanne being the lovely person she is, agreed to it being released and it turned out to be a hugely successful one too and got, I believe, to #5 in the US charts and hit the top of a number of national charts. So taken was Suzanne with it, that when I saw her performing at the Cornbury Festival in Oxfordshire about 15 years ago, she made a particular point of playing that version. By a complete coincidence, I retired to the area and now live only about a mile from where that festival was held. DNA (not to be confused with the US band) were from Bath, just down the road from Bristol from whence Massive Attack originates. Nb. On the subject of Massive Attack, the music video clip of Tracey walking down the street can't help but remind me of the epic 5 minute 21 second single take tracking shot video of vocalist Shara Nelson in the music video for the song.

Barren, is how I'd describe this song, really evokes longing, loneliness and the passing of time without an ounce of schmaltz! ...That long extended remix is amazing!

I just found this one hit wonderland, which genuinely surprised me. They are my dad's favourite band and I grew up listening to Tracy Thorn's singing. For some reason I always assumed they were a really big band of the 80's and 90's, not just a "one hit wonder".Thanks for covering this one, I can't wait to show my dad. I know he'll love this.

Always ready for you Todd. Even though its 12:37am

EBTG was the original SadGirl/SadBoi Aesthetic

HOLY SHIT. Their rendition of Night and Day is one of my favorites now, maybe my favorite full one. Thanks Todd, if for nothing else but this song.

This is probably my favorite episode of OHW. I only knew them for that one song but now they're one of my favorite bands. It's something about their sounds that cools out my anxiety riddled mind. Thanks Todd.

“OHW Missing” Hah! You may have fixed the title by the time I saw this but my notifications show the truth

I heard Tracey Thorne tell a great story re School Run Snobbery. She wouldn’t dress up when she collected her kid from outside the London School and was ignored & unknown by the Cliques of flashy bitchy other mums swanking in their new or credit laden 4WD vehicles ..until the rainy day when a massive black new Range Rover c/w black windows pulled up . She said of how a window slowly wound down to reveal George Micheal.. calling out “ hey - Tracey ..want a lift ? “ He’d met her at TOTP years before & hadn’t forgotten her. What a slap in the chops for the Snobs 😆👍

They're a one-hit wonder in the mainstream but not at all in the house/dance/electronica scene. HIGHLY recommend you check out their entire discography. They are criminally underrated.

"Missing" was massive all over Europe. And quite interesting recording. Unlike "the biggest billboard hit" or whatever, which had one purpose in combining sellouts and that was Money. I had forgotten all about it until just now, man. You reminded me it exists. On the other hand I still enjoy listening "Missing" from time to time.

ETBTG has SO many AMAZING songs actually.

I guess you could say they were “missing” another hit.

Thanks for reminding me of a song I heard so much during my childhood. My mum has always loved this song, and I have memories of her singing along to this in the kitchen at night. I'm glad that you are sharing just how beautiful this band's music was. There's just something so haunting and memorable about Tracy's voice.

Very wholesome and enjoyable ep Todd. Also I love that you used the Paradise Lost cover, seems like you have a solid knack of finding good rock/metal covers of the OHW hits you review.

"Biome of sheer misery..." Thanks for that, Todd.

In 2015, my girlfriend was telling a story about buying a CD as a teenager, and discovering the single she wanted on that album sounded nothing like it sounded on the radio. She hadn't said what song or what band. I just said, "Missing". She was surprised that I nailed it. I worked for a radio station that played the album version for no apparent reason. I think the program director didn't know the difference.

Sir, be been addicted to your channel for that last month and you’re REALLY good at this! Keep on man! 👏🏿👏🏿

So happy you reviewed them! This was great!

When Todd said that "Missing" was trip-hop's only entry into America I was about to rush to type "Not Teardrop???!" But then he said "The House theme". OK. I kinda thought Teardrop had made more of an impression but I guess I was wrong.

I'd like to see a crossover with Todd in the Shadows and Rocked! It can be a One Hit Wonderland to Regret from the Past.

I'm so glad you did this episode, this is one of my favorite songs from the 90s. It still sounds timeless. I wish you'd do an episode on Nu Shooz and "I Can't Wait".

Thank you for reminding me this song exists - I'm now looking into Tracy's solo stuff and freaking LOVING it!! How is she so talented?!? Holy shit!

Never thought I'd see Björk in an episode of Todd in the Shadows, even if only for a second.

"One Sweet Day" was so huge back in the 90s, it felt like it would never leave the charts

Watched a few of your videos tonight really enjoyed them - great channel man ⭐

I'd never heard of this song, all I knew EBTG from was that electrically charged scene from the finale of How I Met Your Mother where Ted meets the Mother, their haunting cover of Downtown Train was playing in the background and that scene was just perfect. But now I realize I'm missing out on so much more haunting stuff I need to check out.

Mango....Mango....Mango..... "What?! You can't-a have-a Mango!" (Out of a daze) Woah...um, what one hit wonder song are you talking about again?

Oh god this song plays where I work every single day. There’s rarely a retail establishment I go now that doesn’t play it. So I have built up an immunity to this song but I appreciate the story behind it and the band behind it more.

I never thought about this song this deeply before! Great job, Todd!

Im so enjoying this Todd..

Very nice choice. I'd love to see you do a vid on The Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Hell". Remember that song?

I don't know if they could be called one-hit wonder, they were huge in Europe all through the 90s, but I appreciate the look into their career. Oh, and Temperamental is a brilliant album

These always unlock memories of falling asleep with a little yellow walkman radio hearing so many weird songs and having a massive catalog of my brain recognizing like a million chorus's

OMG thank you Todd for covering ETBG... they are one of my favorite bands and deserved so much more notoriety

Early pedantry: deserts actually do quite fine without rain, and would, in fact, have their ecosystems badly hurt by a sudden influx of it. Great song though.

Tracy Chapman is amazing you take that back Todd

Todd should try hitting up Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music. That's a gold mine of material for this segment.

Tracey Thorn + Massive Attack is masterful.