Melek Iskandar

Casey Flores

ENG 1101.B03: English Composition II

2 March 2022

Zombie

“Zombie” by Bad Wolves and the original version of "Zombie” by The Cranberries

appeal to different audiences, yet both music videos match the tone the singers have towards the

lyrics. In the original version there is no specific story line that goes with it. However, there are

scenes of children and art that include IRA with flags. This shows the conflict and violence

happening in Ireland at the time. While the remake version by the Bad Wolves was in

remembrance for Dolores O’Riordan. The music video demonstrates a women covered in gold,

initially representing Dolores O’Riordan. Th release date of the original, 1994, shows how the

meaning behind the music video might have changed and modernized over time.

The Cranberries' original recording of "Zombie" was among their earliest hits in the rock

genre. The song had to do with the Irish War of Independence and the horrors that occurred

during that period. The music video for the song “Zombie” by The Cranberries, starts off with a

non-colored screen, with children looking devastated, also with scenes from the music video that

show broken down buildings. The audience also recognize that there are scenes of soldiers,

demonstrating that there might have been some type of war. About five seconds before the singer

starts singing, there is a gold cross with gold children surrounding it. This could symbolize the

children that died during the bombing in Ireland.

 O’Riordan starts off by saying, “Another head hangs lowly/ Child is slowly taken.” This

again goes back to the Ireland bombing, which killed nine children in total. The scene with the

gold children and the cross represents “angels”, as for the nine children that died. Then the

scenes move on to the drummer, then almost a second later moves back to the cross scene.

O'Riordan sings, “But you see, it's not me/ It's not my family.” This could allegedly mean that,

even just because the kids and O’Riordan are not related, that does not mean she doesn’t care

about their deaths. The lyrics then continue to say, “With their tanks, and their bombs/ And their

bombs, and their guns.” These lyrics also have an impact on the song because it

relates/remembers the ones who lost their lives during the bombing. The title and the word that is

repeated throughout the lyrics, “Zombies” is a symbolic term for Northern Ireland's continuous

conflict. The phrase "in your brain" means that war would continuously be on people's minds and

that remembrance of it will always be vivid.

The remake of “Zombie” starts off by stating how the remake was in memory of Dolores

O’Riordan. The music video starts off by showing the band, but then it skips to a page in which a

women's arm is covered by a gold substance. After looking at the original, that ‘women’ could

by O’Riordan being covered in gold as she leaves the world. The beat drops by saying, “What's

in your head, in your head? /Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.” The band that was being filmed

withing those few seconds seemed very passionate about the way the lyrics were being

presented. Afterward, the women covered in gold representing O’Riordan starts walking and

eventually comes across a glass wall. The singer, Tommy Vext, puts his hand towards

‘O’Riordan’. This has an impact on the music video because it demonstrates how song is

dedicated towards her.

 The singer then goes on to sing, “It's the same old theme/ In two thousand eighteen.” This

is one of the few lines that was changed from the original. It indicates that the conflict and

violence has still been going on. While the lyrics is being sung, the singer and the band in the

background seem to mean what they are saying. The singers' facial expressions could make the

viewers infer that he actually means what he is singing.

The two music videos both have different rhetorical appeals. The rhetorical appeal for the

original done by The Cranberries appeals to a mixture of pathos and ethos. It appeals to pathos

because of the fact that children are in multiple scenes throughout the video. There are also many

scenes demonstrating broken down buildings, soldiers, and demonstrations of war. All of these

things could cause an emotional reaction to the viewers. The original could also be ethos for the

reason that there are scenes of art shown that have a deeper meaning. Almost halfway through,

there is a piece of art that has the words “I R A”, with the Ireland flag across it. This could be

used as knowledge, since the song is originally towards Ireland. The original does a better job of

not only portraying knowledge and fact about what is going on in the world, but it also contains

lyrics that match up really well. For example, “It's the same old theme/ Since nineteen-sixteen,”

(2:44-2:49). These lyrics are mentioned for the events taking place, making the song have a

deeper purpose.

The remake made by the Bad Wolves has a rhetorical appeal of pathos only. Unlike the

original, there is no scenes of children, soldiers, or anything resembling war. The original was

directed towards the bombing of Ireland, while the remake is directed towards the loss of

Dolores O’Riordan. Due to this fact, the music video is only between two settings, that being the

lead singer, Tommy Vext, and his band, and the women covered in gold, representing

O’Riordan. This could cause an emotional feeling towards the audience. The two different music
videos are different from each other due to the fact that each one appeals to different audiences.

Despite their differences, they do have a point at which they are similar. Both music videos are

sung by the heart. The lead singers of both versions sound very passionate about what they're

saying.

The original version of Zombie sung by The Cranberries does a better job of getting its

point across. The original also is more appealing to its audience due to the fact that the music

video contains emotional messages. The music video includes more scenes that influence the

lyrics, while the remake goes back and forth between two settings. Towards the beginning of the

song it says, “Another head hangs slowly/ Child is slowly taken,” (0:50-0:59). The lyrics from

the song are dedicated to the nine children that lost their life. As this line in the song is being

sung, the scene that is being played is the cross scene that has nine children surrounding a cross.

This demonstrates how the lyrics match up to the scenes portrayed in the music video.
Work Cited:
O'Riordan, D. (2009, June 16). The cranberries - zombie (official music video). YouTube.
Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://youtu.be/6Ejga4kJUts
Bad Wolves. (2018, February 22). The cranberries - zombie (official music video). YouTube.
Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://youtu.be/6Ejga4kJUts