Glósóli by Sigur Rós

Album: Taak (2005)

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This was the first single released from the Icelandic band Sigur Rós' album Taak, available as a download-only release on iTunes in America and Europe. The name is a combination of gló- from the verb að glóa meaning "to glow, shine, glitter" and sóli meaning "sole." The second element of the name, sóli, shares its grammatical stem with the word "sól", meaning "sun". In combination "glósóli" can be understood as a childish way of saying "glowing sun" or "let the sun glow."
Sarah Brightman released a popular version on her 2013 album Dreamchaser with English lyrics written by Chris Difford of Squeeze.

Brightman had to give somewhat of an explanation to Sigur Rós when asking to cover their song, as they weren't keen on having it translated. "I didn't want to do it in Icelandic - it's not my mother language," Brightman told us. "They said, 'Well, why do you want to do this song? We don't want this song orientated.' And I said, 'No, that's not the point. The reason I want to do this piece is because you really can feel the land that you've created, being Iceland.' And when I think of the countries of the world, one that's very connected to space is Iceland. The way that it looks and feels. It feels like space because the skies are clearer. I wanted to just really vocally give the feeling that something striking is out there."

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