Sonne (Rammstein song)

"Sonne"
Single by Rammstein
from the album Mutter
Released	12 February 2001
Format	CD
Recorded	Studio Miraval, France, 2000
Genre	Neue Deutsche Härte, industrial metal
Length	4:32
Label	Motor
Producer(s)	Jacob Hellner and Rammstein
Rammstein singles chronology
"Asche zu Asche" (2001) "Sonne" (2001) "Links 2-3-4" (2001)

"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.^[1]

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

• It was featured as the opening song on the very first episode of Kerrang! TV, with Marilyn Manson speaking before the song kicked in.^[2]
• An excerpt of "Sonne" was used in the 2002 movie FeardotCom, when the psychopathic torturist abducted an aspiring actress.

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.

• The female vocals in the song "Sonne" are samples (called Lamenting 6, 7, 8, and 10) from the music library Symphony of Voices by Spectrasonics.^[3] Paul Romero also used the lamenting samples in the 1999 game Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor. This sample may be heard in the outside Ambient Music. They can also be heard in the Australian TV series "Underbelly".
• Hardcore producer and DJ Angerfist samples the Rammstein song in his track "Criminally Insane", from his album Pissin' Razorbladez,^[4] using the outro of the original song where the vocal sample is used.
• Metalcore band Caliban and Schlager/ traditional Volksmusik singer Heino have done a cover.
• Some viral videos have a song called "Hitler" by an unknown band erroneously identified as Rammstein which fuses the melody to "Sonne" with incoherent potentially pro-Nazi lyrics. There are many grammatical errors in the lyrics.^[5]

Live story

Heino and Rammstein performing Sonne at the Wacken Open Air 2013

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

1. "Sonne" – 4:32
2. "Adios" – 3:48
3. "Sonne" (Clawfinger K.O. Remix) – 4:11
4. "Sonne" (Clawfinger T.K.O. Remix) – 5:52
5. "Sonne" (Instrumental) – 4:31

• Also available as a 2-track CD, featuring "Sonne" and "Adios".

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics