I Don't Get Where You're Coming From

Everything But The Girl released their final album, Temperamental, in September 1999 and the title track was the fourth (of five) singles, in February 2000. The album managed #16 in the UK but, at 4 weeks, a fraction of the chart time of it's predecessor, Walking Wounded. The single bounced in at #72 for one week and promptly dropped out. It deserved better.

Tracey Thorn's excellent autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen, describes how motherhood - she'd given birth to twins not long before work on the album started - significantly impacted on her contribution, literally and lyrically. Personally, I love the juxtaposition of the hedonistic, going-out-clubbing music with the detached and introspective in-character lyrics, mirroring the different experiences of Thorn and partner Ben Watt at the time. 

I'd not seen the video for Temperamental until recently. It's directed by Mike Mills (no, not that one), whose videos for Sexy Boy and Kelly Watch The Stars by Air and Party Hard by Pulp I'd greatly enjoyed. Admittedly, none of these particularly visualise the narrative of the song and go off on their own track but the video for Temperamental seems to be completely at odds with the song, jarring rather than juxtaposing.

I'd recommend sticking with a live performance of Temperamental in London, originally live streamed in November 1999. 

This temperamental side,
The one you say that you can't hide.
Do you ever see yourself,
The way it looks to someone else?
This temperamental trick,
The one you say you can't predict.
You're like an empty cup.
Forgive me if I don't wait up.
I don't get where you're coming from,
What is real and what's put on,
What has stayed and what has gone.
How long will this thing go on and on?

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

You're like an empty cup,
But I can't fill you up.
What planet are you on?
Not the same one I am from.
Do I just waste my time?
You pour your heart on mine.
You say it screws you up.
Forgive me if I don't wait up.
I don't get what you're trying to say,
What is wrong and what's okay.
You beat yourself up one more time.
You trample on this fierce heart of mine.

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

I don't know what you want from me.
All this endless sympathy.
You beat yourself up one more time.
You trample on this fierce heart of mine.

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

Temperamental (Official Video): Everything But The Girl (2000)

Temperamental (Live @ The Kentish Town Forum, London, 18th November 1999): Everything But The Girl (1999)