Zombie - The Cranberies

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Zombie - The Cranberries

Who

The Cranberries are an Irish rock band which was formed in Limerick in 1989(nineteen eighty nine). The Cranberries rose? to international fame in the 1990s(nineteen nineties) with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, which became a commercial success. The group was one of the most successful rock acts of the '90s and sold over 40 million albums worldwide.

On September 19 1994(nineteen ninety-four)

They wrote and sang a song called “Zombie”.

This was inspired by the IRA bombing in Warrington, Cheshire in 1993(nineteen ninety three). Two children, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, were killed. The IRA (The Irish Republican Army) is a militant group determined to remove British troops from Northern Ireland.

They wanted these behaviours to stop. 

As we said before, this band is known all around the globe which permitted them to transmit this moving message. It won the "Best Song" award at the 1995(nineteen ninety five) MTV Europe Music Awards and spread the message in everyone’s mind.

This song easily gets in the head thanks to its special musicality. The rythm is kind of slow untill the chorus comes where the rythm speeds up.

The singer, Dolores O'Riordan, sometimes has a cracked voices, like when she says “Zombie” which gives a grave, a heavy tone to the song.

This song claims peace.

When she says:

“What's in your head, Zombie…”

“They are fighting”

She’s talking to the “zombies” which are the weapon crafters and the soldiers who use these weapons.

This word “zombie” can also be associated to people who used to live like zombies in the fear of bombing raids.

She says:

“It's the same old theme since 1916”

This sentence refers to the Irish uprising on April 24 1916(nineteen sixteen) in Dublin against the Great Britain.

In fact, this song preachifies (=fait la moral à, preachify) anybody that makes war with the verse:

“In your head they are dyin'”

Which tells to every fighter that they will remember their acts, the lives they’ve taken, all along their own lives.

The Effects

On August 31 1994(nineteen ninety four), just a few weeks after this song was released, the IRA declared a ceasefire after 25 years of conflict, leading some critics of The Cranberries to wonder if the IRA was willing to call a truce to make sure the group didn't release any more songs about them.

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