"Watching the Wildlife" is the seventh and last single by English pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Released on 23 February 1987, it is the most radio friendly of the three singles from Liverpool going for a Beatlesque approach with string orchestration and psychedelic guitar riffs. It is also the only one of the three Liverpool singles not to have a CD single release at that time and the mix used on the 7" vinyl single has never appeared on a UK-issued compact disc. The single only reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart and #23 in Germany.

Background

Bassist Mark O'Toole explained that the song is "basically a story of someone going through their life doing the things they normally do — like the girls putting out the washing and stuff like that." The 7" packaging made reference to animals, with a panda and dolphin on the sleeve. The cassette single more references to sexual intercourse with the instrumental mix being dubbed "The Condom Mix" on the cassette single. The promotional condom that was to be distributed with each single would have stopped the single sales counting towards the UK charts as the official chart provider had introduced new rules to this effect, so the idea was abandoned. Promotional copies complete with the condom do exist, however.

Critical reception

Roger Morton of Record Mirror said of the single, "The fact that you're supposed to get a CONDOM with the cassette version of this could lead to irksome speculation about the title. So let's just say that giving away prophylactics is a GOOD IDEA, and if this piece of swinging, brassy, orchestral bombast wasn't all swollen up like an inflated Durex, it might have been too."

Chart performance

By the time "Watching the Wildlife" was released as a single, poor record sales and interest in the Liverpool album had all but waned. The single failed to break the Top 20 in Europe, only reaching number 28 on the UK Singles Chart, number 23 in Germany and number 24 in Ireland. "Watching the Wildlife" would prove to be the last single released by Frankie Goes to Hollywood as they disbanded shortly after its release, initiating a series of lawsuits by the record label ZTT over contract and royalty differences.

Track listing

All discographical information pertains to UK releases only. "animal fur/animal smell" "Beobachtungen im Wilden Leben" (roughly translated as "Observations in the wild life")

Charts