"Sleeping Sun" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

and the fourth single by

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

. It was released as a

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

with three other songs on 2 August 1999 to coincide with the total solar eclipse that would occur on 11 August. Later that same year, the band's 1998 album ''

Oceanborn ''Oceanborn'' is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in Finland by Spinefarm Records on 7 December 1998 and in the spring of 1999 worldwide. It was released by Drakkar Entertainment in the rest of ...

'' was reissued with the song added to the track listing, and it has been on every edition of the album since. In 2004, it was included on Nightwish's first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

'' Tales from the Elvenpath'', and in 2005, a re-recorded version was released to promote '' Highest Hopes: The Best of Nightwish'', another compilation released on 27 September that same year. "Sleeping Sun" was certified with

Gold Disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in Finland with more than 5.000 copies sold, and also in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with more than 15.000 copies. It reached the number-two spot in the Finnish charts, and was #69 in the German Official Singles Charts.

Track listing

Music video

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 ...

was shot for the song, in which lead vocalist

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

seems to have red hair. The videoclip includes many landscapes characteristic of Finland, for example the forests, the beaches and a large grain field. The video was directed by Sami Käyhkö and shot at

Ivalo Ivalo ( smn, Avveel, se, Avvil, sms, Âʹvvel) is a village in the municipality of Inari, Lapland, Finland, located on the Ivalo River south of Lake Inari in the Arctic Circle. It has a population of 3,998 and a small airport. south of Ival ...

and

Lake Inari Lake Inari ( fi, Inarijärvi/Inarinjärvi, se, Anárjávri, smn, Aanaarjävri, sms, Aanarjäuʹrr, sv, Enare träsk, no, Enaresjøen) is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the northern part of L ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, in July 1999. When the song was re-recorded in 2005, another video was made, showing Turunen as a

valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997:36) ...

walking along a

battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...

filled with dead and wounded soldiers, played by the other band members, as they are being led away.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Crew

* Director: Sami Käyhkö * Producer: Paula Eronen * Executive producer: Sami Manninen * Cinematographer: Risto Laasonen * Camera assistant: Kalle Pekkala * Trip and organizer: Juha Virtala * Makeup and costumes: Johanna Pulli * Grip assistant: Esko Virtala, Ville Kyro * Offline editors: Sami Käyhkö, Reko Turja * Telecine colourist: Adam Vidovic * Online and compositing: Sami Käyhkö, Reko Turja

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish songwriter, record producer and musician, best known as one of the founders and the leader, keyboardist and songwriter of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that hi ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Emppu Vuorinen –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Jukka Nevalainen Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Personal life He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him t ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Sami Vänskä Sami Vänskä (born 26 September 1976) is the former bassist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Background Vänskä started playing bass when he attended music school when he was nine years old. Rush, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Pepper ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Covers

German Dramatic Dark rock ban
ApoVelation
released a demo version in 2006. Spanish

Gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

ban
Iris
covered the song in 2007. Maryana Borak sang the song Live in Novy Rozdil, Ukraine, 2007. Sopran
Maria Lund
recorded a Finnish-language version of the song (titled ) for her 2008 album "Ajan Sävel". Classical string quartet group
The Random Quartet
also played the song in 2008. Brazilian Rock ban
Swianne
currently perform the song regularly in their concerts. New Mexico-based acoustic duo Chile Pi included it in their album
Out in New Mexico
in 2017.

2005 re-recorded version

In 2005, Nightwish announced that they were busy recording a new version of "Sleeping Sun" for a compilation album titled '' Highest Hopes: The Best of Nightwish''.

sang lead vocals on the re-recorded version, this becoming her final studio contribution to the band before being replaced by

Anette Olzon Anette Ingegerd Olsson (born 21 June 1971), known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish class ...

. To promote the compilation, it was released as both a CD and a

DVD single A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

. The CD single included the full 2005 version, the radio edit of this new version, and the original 1999 version. The DVD single included two

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, one for each version of the song.

Track listing

CD single

# "Sleeping Sun" (2005 radio edit) – 4:06 # "Sleeping Sun" (2005 full version) – 4:27 # "Sleeping Sun" (original version) – 4:03

DVD single

# "Sleeping Sun" (2005 version, music video) – 4:11 # "Sleeping Sun" (2000 version, music video) – 4:05 # "Sleeping Sun" (live at

Summer Breeze Open Air Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,00 ...

, 2002) – 4:40

Personnel

–

*Emppu Vuorinen –

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

–

References

Metal-Rules.com: Interview with Nightwish - Tuomas Holopainen

External links

*More info about Sleeping Sun
19992005Pictures from the second video
{{Authority control 1999 singles 2005 singles Heavy metal ballads Nightwish songs Number-one singles in Finland Songs written by Tuomas Holopainen Spinefarm Records singles 1999 songs