"Big Scary Animal" (titled "It's Too Real (Big Scary Animal)" in the United States) is a song written by American singer-songwriter

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. Raised in ...

with

Charlotte Caffey Charlotte Irene Caffey (born October 21, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for her work in the rock band the Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat". Career Caffey began her musical career playing bass guitar in the ...

and

Ralph Schuckett Ralph Schuckett (March 2, 1948 – April 4, 2021) was an American keyboardist, composer and songwriter known as one of the founding members of Todd Rundgren's band Utopia. He composed for film and television, including Pokémon, Sonic X, and A ...

, and produced by Schuckett for Carlisle's fifth studio album, ''

Real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

'' (1993). The song was released on September 13, 1993, as the album's lead single. The CD single includes two

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s: "Windows of the World", also from the ''Real'' album, and "Change", which is an eight-track demo. "Big Scary Animal" peaked at number 12 on 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 ...

, reached number 26 in Iceland, and became a minor hit in Australia, Canada, and Germany.

Critical reception

Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the song four out of five, writing, "Belinda's quirky upfront vocal style suits this acoustically jangling song which cames complete with appropriate jungle motifs via drums and sound effects. Tougher than a lot of her whimsical singles and a promising taster for her ''

'' album."

Music video

There are three versions of 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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Big Scary Animal": the international UK video (directed by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

), the director's cut, and US version (directed by Jim Gable).

Track listings

* US cassette single # "It's Too Real (Big Scary Animal)" – 4:08 # "Windows of the World" – 3:26 * Non-US 7-inch and cassette single : European CD single # "Big Scary Animal" # "Windows of the World" * UK CD single # "Big Scary Animal" # "Windows of the World" # "Change" (8 track demo) # "Too Much Water" (8 track demo) * European maxi-CD and Australian CD single # "Big Scary Animal" # "Windows of the World" # "Change" (8 track demo)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1993 singles 1993 songs Belinda Carlisle songs Songs written by Belinda Carlisle Songs written by Charlotte Caffey Songs written by Ralph Schuckett Virgin Records singles