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Dustin Witten

Workman

ENG 1201

15 February 2020

Zombie

“Another head hangs lowly, child is slowly taken and the violence, caused such silence

who are we mistaken?” This opening line to The Cranberries “Zombie”, released in 1994, as well

as the cover by Bad Wolves in 2018, refers to the inspiration for the song, a child whose life was

taken in a 1993 IRA bombing. The Cranberries focused mainly on the violence happening

between Ireland and England, while Bad Wolves recreated the song to address one common

issue from both eras: violence. The Bad Wolves cover of The Cranberries “Zombie” acts as a

tribute to the late Dolores O’Riordan. Also, it brings the original meaning back into the light for

people everywhere, that political warfare results in unnecessary death while branching its

purpose beyond violence in the U.K. alone.

In 1994 The Cranberries released “Zombie” after two children were killed in an IRA

bombing in the Cheshire town of Warrington, according to Mark Savage. Deeply impacted by

the lost lives, the band created the song despite the terrorists that carried out the act. One line in

the song says, “But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family.” By this, Dolores was saying that she

is not the IRA, nor is her family or Ireland. Decades later the band Bad Wolves was recreating

“Zombie” to reintroduce the song due to the common issue of violence.

The Cranberries video starts in all black and white, with children playing war and armed

soldiers walking the streets. It also includes short clips of the band playing their instruments

before cutting to another storyline, this one in color. This story shows a golden woman (Dolores
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O’Riordan) at the base of a cross surrounded by silver children, the woman is singing the song as

the video cuts between her and the other clips. It begins to show murals, such as one for the

Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, another for the Irish Republican

Army. Cutting back to the children at play, one of them now on the ground surrounded by the

others, in the other storyline, the golden woman is gone and four of the silver children hold

hands with their backs on the cross, the child who was on the ground and surrounded is shot as

the silver children begin to scream. The golden woman is back to her place at the base of the

cross, the children around her now equipped with bows and arrows, all but one, the boy who had

just been shot now appears with the rest of the silver children. This video shows the reality for

areas with high violence and can make the viewers feel compassion for those living through

violence and terror happening right outside their doorstep.

The introduction to the Bad Wolves music video tells of how O’Riordan was set to

reprise her iconic vocals with the group but was unable to due to her unexpected death, and that

all proceeds of the song go to her children. The video then transitions to the band in a dark room,

all the members wearing black, and playing black instruments as they begin the track. The video

moves to a woman whose body is being covered in gold paint, a reference to The Cranberries

video where O’Riordan was painted in all gold. As the woman gets fully embodied in paint, and

the band continues to play, her and the vocalist, Tommy Vext, meet at a glass wall that separates

the two. They both put their hands onto the glass, her leaving a golden print of hers behind,

possibly symbolic of O’Riordan “leaving her mark”. She begins to smear paint over the glass,

once she has the entire thing covered, she writes “1-15-18" on it, the day O’Riordan died. The

video ends with a quote from Tommy Vext, “Her lyrics, confronting the collateral damage of

political unrest, capture the same sentiment we wanted to express a quarter-century later. This is
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a testament to the kind of enduring artist Dolores was, and will remain forever.” This version's

video works as more of a tribute than a story, however, there is a tone set by making everything

black. Everything surrounded by dark visuals shows the viewer that the song's purpose is to

speak out on a gloom-ridden topic.

While both songs portray a very similar message, they do it in different ways. The

Cranberries used their video in addition to their lyrics to appeal to their viewers. The Bad

Wolves relied more on the lyrics alone, using their video to pay respect to O’Riordan. The Bad

Wolves made a couple of changes to the lyrics in their rendition of “Zombie” to help bring the

song into modern relevance. First, in the original version, one verse goes, “But you see, it's not

me, It's not my family, In your head, in your head, they are fighting, With their tanks, and their

bombs, And their bombs, and their guns...”, and in the rendition that is changed to, “But you see,

it's not me, It's not my family, In your head, in your head, they are fighting, With their tanks, and

their bombs, And their bombs, and their drones...” By replacing guns with drones, it better

connects it with modern warfare as drones have become increasingly popular. Secondly, the

original says, “It’s the same old theme since 1916” while the cover says, “It’s the same old

theme in 2018”. 1916 was the year of the Easter Uprising when rebels slowed British advances

in Ireland with street fighting that resulted in a great deal of death. This also broadens the claim,

not giving a regional-specific date allows the song to branch out to other areas, or even global

violence. The “theme” continued from 1916 till 2018 is unnecessary death caused by political

disputes.

Both songs and videos aim to create an emotional response, using Pathos as the appeal.

The Cranberries used visuals such as armed soldiers in city streets, murals, and children

mimicking war to allow their audience to gain perspective of life in high violence areas. They
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also use their lyrics to appeal to emotions, such as when they say “another child slowly taken”

referring to children who die at the hands of political violence. Again when they say, “another

mother’s breaking heart is taking over” speaking of the pain a parent feels when they lose their

child due to this violence. The Bad Wolves cover the original lyrics to display the same message.

They did aim for the same initial response, while also wanting people to share their grief over

O’Riordan’s death. Both songs and videos can appeal to people everywhere as the intended

message is to stop the violence caused by political warfare, an issue that is relevant globally. It

could also be argued that The Cranberries song was aimed towards the United Kingdom, seeing

as theirs is the violence that inspired O’Riordan.

“It’s the same old theme in 2018”, Bad Wolves says in their cover of “Zombie”, pushing

the original message back into the light. Political Warfare results in preventable death and should

be controlled. Both versions of this song appeal to viewers in an emotional way to get their

message across decades apart, with the Bad Wolves modernizing the lyrics and paying tribute to

the original vocalist, Dolores O’Riordan.

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Works Cited

“Bad Wolves: Zombie.” Beat, https://vocal.media/beat/bad-wolves-zombie Acessed on 9

February, 2020.

Howells, Lucy. “Do-You-Really-Know-What-Cranberries-Zombie-Is-Talking-About.”

Music Video Meaning, 30 Jan. 2020, www.musicvideomeaning.com/do-you-really-know-what-

cranberries-zombie-is-talking-about/. Acessed on 9 February, 2020.

Savage, Mark. “The Tragedy That Inspired Zombie - The Cranberries' Biggest Hit.” BBC

News, BBC, 16 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-42702781. Acessed on 9

February 2020.

“Zombie.” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Feb. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ. Acessed on 9 February, 2020.

“Zombie.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 June 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts.

Acessed on 9 February, 2020.