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Mara Robbins

Professor Leonard

ENG 1201.507

20 February 2022

“Zombie” Rhetorical Analysis

“It's the same old theme in two thousand eighteen” is sung as the date 1-15-18 is traced

into a glass panel covered in gold paint. This date is the day that Dolores O’Riordan, an Irish

native and the lead singer of the Cranberries met her untimely death. This modified lyric appears

in a cover of “Zombie” by the Bad Wolves. The Bad Wolves' cover of "Zombie" pays tribute to

the lead singer of the Cranberries as it channels the sheer desperation and horror in humanity that

Doris originally encapsulated. The new cover ties the events of 1993 that inspired "Zombie" to

the present day as injustice and violence still prevail.

“Zombie”, the 1994 song by the Cranberries, despite being a complete change in musical

direction, soon became a hit and an anti-war anthem that spanned the decades. The song was

written in protest of a March 20th, 1993 bombing in Warrington England that killed 12-year-old

Tim Parry and 3-year-old Jonathan Ball. The bombs were planted by Irish Republicans. An Irish

native herself, this fact inspired the lines of “Zombie”:

But you see, it's not me

It's not my family

Dolores O’Riordan was horrified by the event, especially the fact that the bombers claimed to

have carried out the act in the name of Ireland. Dolores wanted to make the distinction very clear

that these people are not her or her family. As she stated in a Vox Magazine interview in 1994,
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“The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA," she said. "The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family

are not.” The “Zombie” music video features Dolores covered head-to-toe in gold paint, standing

in front of a cross and surrounded by similarly painted cherub children. This is a stark contrast to

the black and white scenes of a war-stricken Northern Ireland and footage of soldiers. Children

are scattered throughout the video, playfighting with guns and bombs. At one point in the song, a

new sense of intensity is shown as the cherub children are shown open-mouthed screaming and

writhing. “Zombie” by The Cranberries is a strong and vehement protest to the horror and

actions of the IRA (Irish Republican Army). Dolores describes the song as “...our cry against

man's inhumanity to man; and man's inhumanity to a child." It is a powerful anthem that still

remains relevant today. It resonates with anyone who has been victimized by violent crime and

has felt helpless dread as a result. The audience of this song is those who have been strongly

affected by war and its aftermath. The video uses a combination of pathos and logos to get its

claims across. The scenes of children mimicking soldiers in a time of war are heartbreaking,

alongside the writhing of the cherub children. The video displays logos by providing video

footage of a country terrorized by war. This song is a guttural and desperate cry for humanity to

help end suffering.

The Bad Wolves' cover of “Zombie” feels personal and utterly human. The song was

covered as a tribute to Dolores, after her untimely death. The Bad Wolves were set to collaborate

with Dolores, but her death uprooted their plans a day before the recording. This personal

connection makes the cover seem even more emotional. The lyric change from “1916” to “2018”

brings the original issues tackled in Dolores’s version to the present day. Additionally, The Bad

Wolves changed a lyric in the second verse of the song:

“In your head, in your head, they are fighting

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With their tanks, and their bombs

And their bombs, and their drones”

The lyric changes from “guns” to “drones” tie the events of 1993 to the even more

technologically advanced wars that we find ourselves in. The music video shows the members of

the band dressed in all back facing a clear glass wall. Behind this wall is a woman painted in

gold, similar to Dolores in the original “Zombie” music video. She begins to spread gold paint on

the wall in a chaotic and disheveled way. At one point in the music video, she traces Dolores

O’Riordan’s death date into the wall. By the end of the video, she is completely obscured by the

gold paint. The chaotic smearing of the paint matches the raw and powerful vocals that The Bad

Wolves introduces. The cover pays tribute to Dolores while preserving the strong message of the

original song. This version appeals to pathos as it displays through raw vocals and chaotic

imagery the acute effect that the death of Dolores had on many people. The audience this

rendition is directed to is those who relate with the strong anti-war theme of the original version

of “Zombie” as well as the Bad Wolves’ cover. This cover appeals to anyone affected by

Dolores’s death, which came as a shock to the nation. It retains its strong anti-war theme and

works to inspire humanity in people.

Both versions of “Zombie” inspire the same theme that pushes humans to have empathy

and humanity for others. They both represent strong anti-war themes that are backed up by

powerful vocals and music videos. While Dolores’s version focuses more on the visceral events

that inspired the song, The Bad Wolves pays tribute to her while still supporting the original

ideas of the song. It evokes emotion as it represents the death of someone, who for many, had

been a beacon of light in a difficult time.

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Works Cited

“Bad Wolves - Zombie (Official Video).” YouTube, 22 February 2018,

https://youtu.be/9XaS93WMRQQ. Accessed 13 February 2022.

“The Cranberries - Zombie (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 16 June 2009,

https://youtu.be/6Ejga4kJUts. Accessed 13 February 2022.