The Cranberries: Zombie Meaning

Covered By: Bad Wolves (2018)

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 fighting.
With their tanks and their bombs,and...

1. crutchead

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   Apr 2nd 2007 !⃝

   Basically I think it implies to what rots in the minds of those who who wage and go to war: 'What's in your head... Zombie' - depicting all of the decaying rot and filth within the dilapidated extremes of humanity's schemes devoid of morality and conscientious understanding.
2. anonymous

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   Apr 1st 2007 !⃝

   its obviously about the troubles !! and no one has got the 1916 the most significant dates in Irish history ...... The Easter Uprising ! which took place in April 1916 in Dublin and is one of the pivotal events in modern Irish history. At the end of the Easter Uprising, 15 men identified as leaders were executed at Kilmainham Jail
3. anonymous

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   Dec 2nd 2006 !⃝

   " and the violence causes silence," - I thought this line was referring to the silence betweent he 2 communities, the more violence there is from each to the other the less dialogue there is
4. anonymous

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   Dec 2nd 2006 !⃝

   It is about the north of Ireland, the troubles, the easter rising etc, its nothing to do with the 1st world war fi you know even the basics of Irish history you can see its obviously about the 'struggle' in the north not the world war.
5. anonymous

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   Nov 17th 2006 !⃝

   Also, when she sings, " and the violence causes silence," she is speaking of the after-effects of someone involved in the war, possibly a soldier. I know we have a few in my town, but there are bums who fought in Vietnam who are now just crazy loons who don't talk to anybody, probably due to post-traumatic stress disorder linked to having to kill people in combat.
6. anonymous

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   Aug 18th 2006 !⃝

   It is about the brutality of *both* combatants. Ask an irishman on either side of the border and odds are they will say they are sick of the ira - the 'zombie' o'riodan sings about who is eternally fighting for irish unification (even when catholics are a minority in the north). But as the ira has no 'tanks', I assume she is also criticising the british too!
7. anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2006 !⃝

   As far as I understand it, Zombie is pretty much a protest song to the troubles in Northern Ireland, regarding the IRA, the British and all that jazz.
   
   'It's the same old thing, since 1916'
   
   1916 was when the conflict in Northern Ireland esculated.
   
   'The same old thing...'
   
   Also on January 30th, 1972, the Bloody Sunday attack occured where 13 people, peacefully protesting human rights were fired upon by British Paratroops (another brilliant Irish band, U2, penned their song Sunday Bloody Sunday, in rememberance of this horror).
   
   Zombie, is claiming the people of Ireland, are only fighting because it is imprinted in them to do so, that they have become 'Zombies' to what is occuring.
   
   Well, that's my interpritation at least.
   
   -Acrobat-
8. d1545ms

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   Feb 27th 2006 !⃝

   While references to the civil war in Ireland make sense, I can't help but draw references to the first world war.
   
   True the war began in 1914 but everything about warfare changed in 1916 which is referenced to in the song. The tank made its first appearance on the battlefield for the first time in human history. which is referenced to in the chorus. also, the battle of verdun was fought in 1916, which is arguably the worst battle of the war with close to 1,000,000 casualties between the french and the germans with about half that being fatalities. all in one battle. The other line which suggests this WW1 meaning is the theme of zombies. The fighting in WW1 was done with massive charges unprotected into direct machine gun fire. The connection being that the men were like zombies after living months in mud, cold, and diseased trenches were forced to run through an open field into direct fire, the men were dead before they left the trenches. also, that they kept running into the bullets as if they had no other thoughts like zombies.
9. anonymous

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   Nov 2nd 2005 !⃝

   The 'Contract' referred to is the 'Anglo Irish Treaty' and was signed in 1921 not 1916. It was between the provisional Irish government and the British government (not England) and under the terms of the Treaty it was agreed to temporarily partition Ireland into Saorstáit Éireann (26 counties) and Northern Ireland (6 counties)
   
   Amnesty International have identified violations of human rights perpetrated by the British govt in their territorial claim over the north of Ireland. Although Amnesty International takes no position on the legitimacy of territorial claims they have identified laws, procedures and practices of law enforcement officials which have led to violations of the internationally recognized rights to life, to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, to fair trial, and to freedom of expression and assembly. In particular, Amnesty International has been seriously concerned about the British Government's failure to investigate independently and fully serious allegations of human rights violations, to make public the results of internal investigations, and to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.
10. anonymous

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    Sep 14th 2005 !⃝

    Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries talking about one of the band's most popular (and relevant) songs.
    
    "Zombie: 'Zombie' was inspired by a child's death. His life was taken in the arm's of his mother. She was shopping in London last year, and there was a bomb planted in a rubbish bin in London and he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and he died. The reason the bomb was planted was because of a political territorial kind of thing that goes on in the North of Ireland and the UK. So the references to 1916 was when a contract was signed, which signed away the 6 counties to England. And it still goes on today: the war, the deaths, and the injustice.
    -Dolores-"
11. username

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    Jul 9th 2005 !⃝

    This song is about the civil war taking place in Northern Ireland. The lead singer, Dolores O’Riordan, assures over and over in the song that neither she nor her family took part in the horrible things... "it's not me...it's not my family..."

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