"Sonnet" is a song by Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 The Verve

The Verve

The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...

 and is featured on their third album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Urban Hymns

Urban Hymns

Urban Hymns is the third album by English rock band The Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Recordings. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year...

. It was released 2 March 1998 as the final single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 from the album (see 1998 in British music

1998 in British music

This is a summary of 1998 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.1998 was a transitional year for music, when the hyped up sound of pure pop from the mid-1990s began to fade and popular artists began to experiment with different styles and new artists were...

). The song has the same instrumental layout as "The Drugs Don't Work

The Drugs Don't Work

"The Drugs Don't Work" is a song by the British rock band, The Verve and is featured on their third album, Urban Hymns. It was released on September 1, 1997 as the second single from the album, charting at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's most successful single in the UK...

", consisting of acoustic and electric guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s backed up with a string section which is mainly made up of violins. The song only uses 5 chords (not including adding ninth notes to chords).

At the start of 1998, Hut asked The Verve to put out another single from the album, an idea which the band disagreed with. Unusually, Hut pressed them on this matter, and so the band finally agreed to release "Sonnet", but only in a format that would make it ineligible for chart recognition. Consequently, "Sonnet" was released as part of a set of four 12-inch

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 records (backed by "Stamped", "So Sister" and "Echo Bass"). The release was limited to just 5000 copies, despite the huge radio coverage it received, and the official chart refused to recognize it as a single because of the extra content, as planned. The pack was released in a cardboard mailer, and the preceding three singles from the album, all re-released on the same day, fitted into the mailer.

However, sales of an imported format made it chart at number 74.

The music video consists of repeated close-ups of Richard Ashcroft

Richard Ashcroft

Richard Paul Ashcroft is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional guitarist of alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999, and continues as a lead vocalist working with guitars and keyboards...

 sitting down on a chair, with different backgrounds each time.

Track listing

• CD HUTCD 100

1. "Sonnet" – 4:21
2. "Stamped" – 5:32
3. "So Sister" – 4:11
4. "Echo Bass" – 6:38

• Cassette HUTC 100

1. "Sonnet" – 4:21
2. "Echo Bass" – 6:38
3. "So Sister" – 4:11

• 12" HUTTX 100

1. "Sonnet" – 4:21
2. "Stamped" – 5:32
3. "So Sister" – 4:11
4. "Echo Bass" – 6:38

• Promo CD HUTCDP 100

1. "Sonnet" – 4:21

US version

In 1998, "Sonnet" was released in America. The single was distributed by Virgin Records

Virgin Records

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

.

• Promo CD DPRO-13196

1. "Sonnet" (LP edit) – 3:43
2. "Sonnet" (LP version) – 4:22
3. "Sonnet" (Call Out Hook) – 0:10

Japanese version

• CD VJCP-12096

1. "Sonnet" – 4:21
2. "Stamped" – 5:32
3. "So Sister" – 4:11
4. "Echo Bass" – 6:38