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Kerigan Calhoun

Ms. Wright

ENG 1201

13 February 2022

Zombie

The original song written by The Cranberries is a contribute to two young children

that died in the IRA bombings that took place in England. The IRA bombings was the

Irish Army whos main claim of doing all this was, “Was to harm the economy and cause

disruption, which would put pressure on the British Government to withdraw from

Northern Ireland.” This ended in horror as two children were killed and many others

injured.

While the cover of Zombies by Bad Wolf was a contribution to beloved singer

Doloros O'Riordan who passed away suddenly before she could sing her part in the

song again. The cover of “Zombie'' by Bad Wolves is a new upbeat version to the

original song that seems still very emotional as the original but is for the rock lovers out

there. This new version includes the inspiration the singer Tommy Vext felt when

listening to the original and how he will incorporate rock into the updated version, still

discussing the original problems happening with the government in the cover of the

song. Both versions of the song are very similar but the biggest difference they have is

the original version is slowed down while the version by Bad Wolves is much more

upbeat.
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At the beginning of the song Zombie the lyric “ Child is slowly taken”, stands out

out to me because the main claim of the song is because kids are being killed in these

IRA bombings. You can see the emotions in Doloros eyes while singing about all the

individuals that have died in the bombing, the children dressed up as angels are

represented as all the lives taken during these bombings. This is a sign of pathos

throughout the music video because this main part is bringing lots of emotion to the

audience. The audience should be able to look at these young children in the video and

get a visual look on how emotional the bombing were for adults, teenagers and

especially young children.

Many viewers while watching this video can get the background information

throughout the video very easily because of how well it is described throughout the

whole thing. The lyrics being told are for viewers who want to learn more about the

bombings that occured and for viewers who like more of a slow past type of music

genre. Zombie is all about listening to the lyrics because the emotion from the singer

and her connection with the reasoning behind this song is a huge contribution to why

this song is so important to the community.

In the music video by Bad Wolves they incorporate a woman painted all gold to

mimic the original music video where Doloros O’Riordan is surrounded by children

dressed as angels painted gold in front of a cross. The audience this song sticks out to

is rock music lovers and someone who was a fan of the singer Doloros O’Riordan which

this song was dedicated to. I believe the song is pointed out to all age groups but mostly

to the older age group, and to individuals who were affected in the IRA bombings in
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England. This video also incorporates pathos because the emotion is running high since

it is a tribute to the singer Doloros. The band is also still trying to incorporate that

bombings to this day are still bringing havoc to this world. A lyric that stuck out to me is,

“ When the violence causes silence”, because the violence has been going on for so

long everyone has gone silent and doesn't know how to fix the suffering the world is

going through.

The reasoning behind the government being a problem in the IRA bombings is the

story being told by The Cranberries. This was also the inspiration from the lead singer of

Bad Wolves Tommy Vext reasoning for making a cover of the song Zombie. Doloros is

trying to put her voice out for Irish independence and all the individuals that are being

affected by the government or IRA bombings. The first music video is sharing a

message to the government and the people to take a stand and help stop the bombings

that are happening in our world. While in the second music video they are spreading

The Cranberries message because it is still a problem to this day.

Although many people will love both versions of the song Zombie. The new

generation will be more likely to enjoy the Bad Wolves version because it's much more

upbeat and much newer than the other version. The older generation will enjoy the

original masterpiece of Zombie by The Cranberries. The Cranberries version has more

interest from the audience. This is because I don’t believe you can make a better

version than the original song that has a strong message behind it.
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Works Cited:

The Cranberries - Zombie (Official Music Video) - Youtube. 16 June 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts. Accessed 19 Feb. 2022.

Bad Wolves - Zombie (Official Video) - Youtube. 22 Feb. 2018,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ. Accessed 19 Feb. 2022.

“Warrington Bomb Attacks.” Military Wiki, Fandom, 8 Mar. 2014,

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Warrington_bomb_attacks. Accessed 20

Feb. 2022.