"Before Too Long" was the first single released by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls from their debut double album, Gossip. The single was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushroom Records. It reached No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, remaining for 19 weeks. The track was a surprise hit for Kelly at a time when chart success had eluded him and provided increased interest for the release of Gossip, which would become his biggest mainstream success to that date.

The success of the single can partly be attributed to the accompanying video, which was directed by John Witteron, depicting Kelly as a long-suffering cab driver dealing with a night shift full of eccentric passengers.

After recording his solo album, Post in early 1985, Paul Kelly established a full-time band in Sydney. It included Michael Armiger (bass guitar, rhythm guitar), Michael Barclay (drums, ex-Weddings, Parties, Anything) and Steve Connolly (lead guitar). Bass guitarist Jon Schofield and keyboardist Peter Bull soon joined. Through a joke based on Lou Reed's song "Walk on the Wild Side", the band became known as Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls. Armiger left and the Coloured Girls line-up stabilised in late 1985 as Barclay, Bull, Connolly and Schofield.

In April 1986, the band entered Trafalgar Studios and released their debut 24-track double LP, Gossip in September. It included remakes of four songs from Post.Gossip peaked at No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. Charting singles from the album were "Before Too Long", released in June ahead of the album, which peaked at No. 15 on the related Singles Chart and "Darling It Hurts". "Before Too Long" was written by Kelly; its success is partly due to the accompanying video, which was directed by John Witteron, depicting Kelly as a long-suffering cab driver dealing with a night shift full of eccentric passengers.

...
Wikipedia