"Starry Eyed Surprise" is a song by English record producer Oakenfold featuring vocals from

Shifty Shellshock Seth Brooks Binzer (August 23, 1974 – June 24, 2024), better known by his stage name Shifty Shellshock, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter who cofounded the rap rock band Crazy Town, known for their hit song "Butterfly". He later ha ...

Crazy Town Crazy Town (sometimes abbreviated as CXT) was an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret "Epic" Mazur and Shifty Shellshock (Seth Brooks Binzer). Their 2000 single "Butterfly", reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' H ...

. The song was released on 19 August 2002 as the second single from Oakenfold's debut album, '' Bunkka'' (2002), reaching number six in the United Kingdom, number 19 in the Netherlands and New Zealand, number 21 in Ireland, and number 37 in Australia. It also reached the top 50 in Italy and the United States. It was later included on Shifty Shellshock's 2004 album ''

Happy Love Sick ''Happy Love Sick'' is the only solo studio album by Shifty Shellshock who was best known as frontman of rap rock band Crazy Town. The album includes the original singles " Slide Along Side" and "Turning Me On". The single " Starry Eyed Surpri ...

'' and Oakenfold's 2007 album '' Greatest Hits & Remixes''.

Content

The line "Freaky deaky, star speckles and pink butterflies", sung by Shifty Shellshock, is sung in a similar manner to that of his band's previous single, "

Butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

". The song also samples "

Everybody's Talkin' "Everybody's Talkin (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966 and released two years later. A version of the song performed by the American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, ...

" by

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

, which is a cover version of the original by

Fred Neil Fred Neil (born Frederick Ralph Morlock Jr.; March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material – particularl ...

, hence why Neil received a songwriter credit for "Starry Eyed Surprise" and Got Your Money by

Ol' Dirty Bastard Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), known professionally as Ol' Dirty Bastard (often abbreviated as ODB), was an American rapper. He was one of the founding members of the New York rap group Wu-Tang Clan, which forme ...

feat.

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

Track listings

UK CD single # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (single edit) – 3:09 # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (

Josh Wink Joshua Winkelman (born April 20, 1970), better known by his stage name Josh Wink, is an American electronic dance music DJ, label owner, producer, and remixer. He is a native of Philadelphia, United States. A pioneering DJ in the American rave ...

re-interpretation) – 8:43 # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (

Oliver Lieb Oliver Lieb (born 1969 in Frankfurt, Germany) is an electronic music producer and DJ. He has recorded under more than a dozen aliases with over 200 productions and remixes in various genres such as trance, house and techno. # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (single edit) – 3:09 # "Mortal" – 6:44 # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (Josh Wink re-interpretation) – 8:43 # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (Oliver Lieb remix) – 7:52 # "Starry Eyed Surprise" (video)

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the UK CD single liner notes. Studios * Recorded at Real Noize (UK) and Real World (

Box, Wiltshire Box is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England, about west of Corsham and northeast of Bath, Somerset, Bath. Box also falls in the easternmost pa ...

, England) Personnel *

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

– writing, production, mixing, vocal recording *

– writing (as Seth Binzer), vocals * Andy Gray – writing, programming, production, mixing, engineering *

– writing * Emerson Swinford – guitars * Mark Ralph – guitars *

Jeff Turzo Jeff Turzo, as singer/programming and songwriting/production partner in the electronic rock band God Lives Underwater (GLU), spent the better part of the 1990s as a producer and touring artist, first signed by Rick Rubin to American Recordings ...

– additional production *

Carmen Rizzo Carmen Rizzo (born April 8, 1964) is an American record producer, mixer, programmer, DJ, remixer and recording artist, based in Los Angeles. The two-time Grammy nominee has worked with Seal, Coldplay, Paul Oakenfold, Alanis Morissette, Dido, Jem ...

– vocal recording *

Steve Osborne Stephen John "Steve" Osborne (born 1963) is a British record producer, living in Bath, England. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Suede, the B-52s, A-ha, New Order, Elbow, U2, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Gregory Porter, D ...

– vocal mixing * Ed Chadwick – engineering assistant * Michael Nash Associates – artwork design * Matthew Donaldson – cover photography *

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner" ...

– Paul Oakenfold photo (back cover)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

The song was featured in

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

promos for 2002 - 2003, including Summer Beach House.

References

External links

Music Video
{{Authority control 2002 songs 2002 singles Paul Oakenfold songs Maverick Records singles Perfecto Records singles Songs written by Paul Oakenfold UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles