Songfacts®:

• When Michael Bolton first teamed with the producer Mutt Lange, they came up with his 1993 hit "Said I Loved You... But I Lied," a song with an ear-catching, somewhat absurd title that reveals a different meaning in the lyric (the "lie" is that what he's feeling is even greater than love). They did it again on "Can I Touch You... There?" a title you can picture on a bad romance novel with Fabio on the cover. But listen to the lyric and you'll hear where Bolton wants to touch her: deep inside... her heart! See, it's not dirty at all.
• We have to give Bolton some credit for doubling down on the ellipses in his song titles, with "Said I Loved You... But I Lied" and "Can I Touch You... There?" It's possible producer Max Martin was paying attention when he crafted the Britney Spears hits "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops... I Did It Again."
• The video follows a formula Bolton had established: He sings in an exotic location (in this case, Belize), while a very attractive woman hangs out near the water, presumably thinking about him. He and the woman are never in the same shot, which makes filming a lot easier. These videos got lots of airplay on VH1.
• This is one of five new songs and the lead single on Bolton's 1995 compilation Greatest Hits (1985–1995). His music saturated the airwaves in the early '90s, but by 1993 he was getting diminishing returns, as there's only so much Michael Bolton one can take. He responded by focusing on touring and charity efforts, then issuing the Greatest Hits album, which was well received, selling an impressive 3 million copies in America even though the hits were just a few years old.
• "Can I Touch You... There?" was Michael Bolton's highest-charting song in the UK, where it went to #6.