The Cranberries wrote "Zombie" as a protest song about the 1993 IRA bombing in Warrington, and in memory of two young victims, Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry. It was released in September 1994 as the lead single from their second studio album, No Need to Argue (1994). Written by Dolores O'Riordan and reached No. 1 on the charts of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Iceland, as well as on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The lyrics and chords of "Zombie" were written in Ireland by O'Riordan during the Cranberries' English Tour in 1993. O'Riordan commented, "The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA. The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family are not... When it says in the song, 'It's not me, it's not my family,' that's what I'm saying. It's not Ireland." You can feel the pain and rage in "Zombie" through O'Riordan's use of mezzo soprano vocals highlighted by a sharp break from chest register to head register/falsetto in the second syllable of the word "zombie". She's actually yodeling in these cases.
This song is a mixture of simplicity in music, complexity in meaning, and astounding in lyrics that creates a very somber mood while still offering a bit of solitude by using various war-time elements to portray the pain and sorrow O'Riordan feels about the IRA bombing in 1993 as a part of the Troubles "wars". Even though the piece was intended as a protest against the IRA, "Zombie" transcends more than just the unfortunate circumstances of the time to allow anyone who hears it to find a meaning of their own.
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