Released 12 February 2001 Length 4:32 | Format CD | |
"Sonne" (German for "Sun") is a song by the German Neue Deutsche Härte group Rammstein. It was the first single released from the album Mutter. According to Till Lindemann, the song was originally written as an entrance song for the boxer Vitali Klitschko, whose surname was also the working title of the song.
Contents
Music video
The video features the band as dwarves mining gold for Snow White. Apparently, this came about while several of the band members were watching the old Disney film Snow White, and had "Sonne" playing in the background, giving them the idea for the video. Also (as told by Paul in the Making Of Sonne video) the video came out of a video Oliver (bassist) did mixing the "Sonne" song and parts of the Snow White movie with his computer. The band supposedly went through nearly 40 different ideas for the video, such as the story of a boxer, before choosing the Snow White theme. One of the other ideas was a video about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (which would have matched the lyrics and the depressed-sounding vocalization). Lady Snow-White (German "Schneewittchen") is played by the Russian soap actress Joulia Stepanova (Yulia Stepanova). There is also an extended version, which is longer and has more scenes in it (ex: Snow White smoking a cigarette while looking at a gold ring).
In popular culture
The song has become a regular feature on the Moroccan Desert Race, the Tuareg Rally. As the German organisers play it at loud volume each morning at 06.00 across the race hotel to awaken the competitors.
Live Performance
It debuted as "Klitschko" on 16 April 2000. The song was very different from the final version released in Mutter. "Sonne" was also played in some concerts of the Big Day Out festival 2001, and those concerts were the only time the third verse of the song was sung. When played live, the band usually omits the final stanza, and instead they play a slightly longer intro and outro. Theatrical flames shoot several feet into the air when Rammstein plays the song. Since May 2001, "Sonne" has been played paired with "Ich Will" during the encores in most Rammstein concerts to date, this has been changed however since 2009.
Track listing
- "Sonne" – 4:32
- "Adios" – 3:48
- "Sonne" (Clawfinger K.O. Remix) – 4:11
- "Sonne" (Clawfinger T.K.O. Remix) – 5:52
- "Sonne" (Instrumental) – 4:31