"While the Earth Sleeps" is a song written by Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez of Deep Forest and Peter Gabriel. The song was performed by Deep Forest with Peter Gabriel and appeared on the soundtrack for the film Strange Days (1995) and is played over the film's end credits. It was released as a CD single. The song features Bulgarian folk singer Katya Petrova.

Samples

The song incorporates credited samples from "Shashvi, Kakabi", performed by Tsinandali Choir and from "Övgön Chuuvuu" from the album Mongolie, musique vocale et instrumentale. The passage "Da li znaeš, mila majko" (Да ли знаеш мила мајко) (Do you know, dear mother?) comes allegedly from a Bulgarian folk song. However, Risto Puleski from Nižepole, North Macedonia claimed that the lyrics of the song were in the Macedonian language and asserted that it was neither Bulgarian, nor a folk song, but that he had written it in 1960. This claim has never been corroborated and no legal action followed.

Track listing

Track 2 is featured in the film Strange Days, but not on the soundtrack.