It’s the same old theme/
Since nineteen-sixteen.

“Zombie” was The Cranberries greatest work, and it is one of the greatest protest songs of all-time. The Cranberries were a proudly Irish Band. The song was written after an IRA bombing killed two young children.

Her message is clear: the same shit has been going on for the last hundred years. Everyone is walking around brainless with their big guns and bombs blowing each other up without thinking of the consequences. The military industrial complex has churned out a bunch of zombies that are happy to kill.

Dolores O’riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries’ death was a deep shock to anyone who grew up with The Cranberries. She was such a kick-ass, punk rocker chick that seemed to be bigger than life (in a small package). She played the guitar and sang lead on all their songs, and every public appearance her hair would be a new neon color.

The sound of The Cranberries on “Zombie” differed from most of The Cranberries other music. This song was angry. Not only could you hear it in the lyrics, you could hear it in the loud distorted guitars and the way she would howl out “Zombie”. It is a very raw, emotional song. The band plays an excellent extended outro to end the song.

Zombie Lyrics

Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family.
In your head, in your head, they are fightin’.
With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns,
In your head, in your head, they are cryin’.

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.
What’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh.

Another mother’s breakin’
Heart is takin’ over.
When the violence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

Written by Dolores O’riordan