"Shy Boy" is a 1982 song recorded by English

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. The ...

which was written and produced by the production team of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and marked the first in a long line of studio collaborations between them and Bananarama. Released in the summer of 1982, "Shy Boy" became the third consecutive single by Bananarama to hit the top-five, reaching number four in the

UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It also was a success in Australia, where it reached number two, becoming their first top 40 hit in that country. Top-ten success also followed in New Zealand and Canada. "Shy Boy" charted well on the U.S.

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as ...

chart and was the first of Bananarama's singles to dent the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 83. The song was known as "Shy Boy (Don't It Make You Feel Good)" in the USA. It was included on their 1983 debut album '' Deep Sea Skiving''. The song was originally called "Big Red Motorbike", however

did not like the lyrics and changed it to "Shy Boy".

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

was directed by

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980 ...

and

Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Biography Early years Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, ...

who were then members of the group

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

. It featured the girls giving a nerdy guy a make-over, turning him into a stud. When his new look attracts the attention of a sexy secretary, the girls get revenge by dousing him with a bucket of water. The nerd-turned-stud was played Terry Sharpe, the lead vocalist of the Northern Irish rock group The Adventures, who was

Sara Dallin Sara Elizabeth Dallin (born 17 December 1961) is an English singer and a founding member of the pop group Bananarama. The group has achieved 28 UK top 50 and 11 US top 100 singles, including a US number one with "Venus" (1986). Other hits inclu ...

's boyfriend at the time.

Track listing

; UK 7" vinyl single ''London Records NANA 2'' #"Shy Boy" 3:13 #"Don't Call Us" 3:10 ; Canadian 7" vinyl single ''Mercury Records MS 76178'' #"Shy Boy" 3:13 #"Give Us Back Our Cheap Fares" 2:45 #:S. Dallin/S. Fahey/K. Woodward/Cotillard ; UK 12" vinyl single ''London Records NANX 2'' #"Shy Boy" (Extended Version) 5:49 #"Don't Call Us" (Extended Version) 4:10 ; USA 12" vinyl single ''London Records 810 299-1'' #"Shy Boy (Don't it Make You Feel Good)" (Long Version) 6:58 #"Shy Boy (Don't it Make You Feel Good)" (Dub Version) 9:22 The song "Don't Call Us" appears on the album ''Deep Sea Skiving'' retitled as "Boy Trouble".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1982 singles Bananarama songs London Records singles Songs written by Tony Swain (musician) Songs written by Steve Jolley (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Jolley & Swain 1982 songs {{1980s-pop-song-stub