"Shy Boy" is a song recorded by English girl group

Girl group

A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 Bananarama

Bananarama

Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

. It appears on their 1983 debut album Deep Sea Skiving

Deep Sea Skiving

Deep Sea Skiving is the debut album by the British female vocal group Bananarama, released in 1983. The album peaked at no.7 on the UK album chart and was certified Silver by the BPI....

and was released as its second single. It was written and produced by the production team of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain

Jolley & Swain

Steve Jolley and Tony Swain were a successful pop musician, songwriting and record production duo in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1980s, producing some of the top artists and songs of the era....

 and marked the first in a long line of studio collaborations between them and Bananarama.

The song is rumoured to be a tribute to teenaged London pirate radio comedian Mark Gould; whom Bananarama subsequently demanded as their Christmas present for 1983 on the Christmas edition of BBC1's Show Business programme, which was broadcast on Friday 16 December 1983.

Released in summer 1982, "Shy Boy" became the third consecutive single by Bananarama to hit the top-five, reaching number four in the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. 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

Hot Dance Club Play

The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

 chart and was the first of Bananarama's singles to dent the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, peaking at number eighty-three. The song was known as "Shy Boy (Don't it make you feel good)" in the USA.

The song was originally called "Big Red Motorbike", however Bananarama

Bananarama

Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

 didn't like the lyrics and changed it to "Shy Boy".

Music video

The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

, directed by then Ultravox

Ultravox

Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

's Midge Ure

Midge Ure

James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

 and Chris Cross

Chris Cross

Chris Cross is the bass guitarist in the band Ultravox.-Early years:Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, William Forster Comprehensive...

, featured the girls giving a nerdy guy a make-over into a stud. When his new look attracts the attention of a sexy secretary, the girls get their revenge by dousing him with a bucket of water. It stars Terry Sharpe of The Adventures

The Adventures

The Adventures are a Northern Irish Rock group, formed in Belfast in 1984.The band later moved to London where they signed to Chrysalis Records and released their first single in 1984. Following their debut album release a year later the group moved to Elektra Records and scored their biggest hit,...

, who was Sara Dallin

Sara Dallin

Sara Elizabeth Dallin is an English musician mostly noted for her membership of the group Bananarama, which she co-founded with her childhood friend Keren Woodward.Dallin was born in Bristol, England...

's boyfriend at the time.

Track Listing

UK 7" single

1. "Shy Boy" 3:13
2. "Don't Call Us..." 3:10

Canadian 7" single

1. "Shy Boy" 3:13
2. "Give Us Back Our Cheap Fares" 2:45

   S. Dallin/S. Fahey/K. Woodward/Cotillard

UK 12" single

1. "Shy Boy" (Extended Version) 5:49
2. "Don't Call Us..." (Extended Version) 4:10

USA 12" single

1. "Shy Boy" (Long Version) 6:58
2. "Shy Boy" (Dub Version) 9:22

The song "Don't Call Us..." appears on the album "Deep Sea Skiving" retitled as "Boy Trouble"

Charts

Chart (1982)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	4
Australia ARIA singles chart	2
New Zealand singles chart	5
Canadian singles chart	7
U.S. Hot Dance Club Play	14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	83
Dutch Singles chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	12