Songfacts®:

• This synthesizer-driven song finds lead singer Chris Hamill (who goes by "Limahl") trying to convince a girl to open up to him. It was Kajagoogoo's first single, and a huge hit in their native UK. In America, MTV launched in August 1981, and over the next few years many British bands with interesting looks had some success in America simply because they had videos available for the station to play - in Europe there were outlets for music videos before they became viable in the States. Some of these acts, like Duran Duran, had staying power, but others, like Haircut One Hundred and Taco, were one-hit wonders in America. Kajagoogoo is very much in the latter category, although they had several more hits in the UK, including "Ooh To Be Ah" and "Big Apple."
• Lead singer Limahl left after Kajagoogoo's first album, and the band continued without success as "Kaja" while Limahl carried on as a solo act, scoring a hit in 1985 with "Never Ending Story."
• Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran got the band signed to their label EMI, and Rhodes produced this track with Colin Thurston, who produced Duran Duran's first two albums.
• "Too Shy" was written by Limahl and the band's bass player, Nick Beggs, in Beggs' council flat. Beggs had the "Too shy, shy, hush hush, eye to eye" chorus, which Limahl told The Guardian he "thought sounded cute."
  
  Beggs added: "I had a verse which was so wordy it was almost rap. Limahl said 'That's way too much,' so he heavily précised it. I came up with a second verse, and he wrote the 'Hey girl, move a little closer' bit."
• The girl in the video is Ali Espley, a Canadian model who later married the comedian Dennis Miller. She was a friend of Limahl, which is how she got the gig.
• This song appears in the computer game The Sims 2: Open For Business in the Sims' language, Simlish. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Blake - Manchester, TN
• Kajagoogoo's ghosts perform this song in the 2019 American Horror Story 1984 episode "The Lady in White" after the band is savagely murdered before a festival. Their grizzly deaths don't stop the show. "No one is going to miss Kajaf--king-googoo and their one hit single," the sociopathic promoter says.
  
  Limahl, very much alive in real life, got a kick out of it and even posted the clip.
  
  The song also appears in the 2004 Gilmore Girls episode "Last Week Fights, This Week Tights," and in the 2018 Netflix movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Additionally, it's heard in these films:
  
  The Wedding Singer (1998)
  24 Hour Party People (2002)
  Sparkle (2007)
  Joyful Noise (2012)
• The memorable intro, where Limahl holds a single note, was initially just him warming up his voice. However, Colin Thurston suggested, "Let's leave it in for now and see how we feel." Ultimately, that warm-up note became an iconic part of the track.