Gilmour has said (as can be heard on the David Gilmour in Concert DVD) that the song was written about his wife, Polly Samson.
Samson | Samson Siasia | John K. Samson | Polly Bergen | Samson Raphael Hirsch | Samson of Dol | Samson (band) | Polly James | Polly Holliday | Polly Brown | Polly Samson | Polly Rosenbaum | Paul Samson | Samson Raphaelson | Polly Wolly Doodle | Polly Toynbee | Polly Stenham | Polly Nelson | Polly Duniam | Peter Samson | Oscar Samson Rodriguez | Frederick Samson | Camil Samson | Black Samson | Along Came Polly | The Polly Bergen Show | Standing Dish with ''Samson Crushing the Philistines with the Jawbone of an Ass'', ca. 1580. Now at the Taft Museum of Art | Savanna Samson | Samson Tractor | ''Samson'', preserved at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry |
Written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Polly Samson, it was sung by Gilmour and also features samples of Stephen Hawking's electronic voice, taken from a BT television advertisement.
In 2001 Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour recorded Sonnet 18 as a song for his wife, with the music written by him and played on piano by Michael Kamen.