anonymous 2007-11-24 02:38:13    

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While the first major rebellion in ireland was in 1912, the IRA started it's more effective action (in a modern urban geurilla style) around 1916 under the leadership of Michael Collins and Amon De Valera. Since then there has been near constant violence. in 1921 when the treaty sectioning Ireland was ratified by the Irish Free State provisional government, the factions in the war changed from irish V english to IRA V North Irish/English.

I think the line about it's not me, not my family. May also reflect on the fact that no one will take blame for participating in the conflict. I have a good friend who's father emigrated from ireland; they have both participated in riot like behavior near the border. People tend to think of themselves as helping their own righteous cause and ignoring that they are part of the reason that the conflict continues.

anonymous 2007-11-29 11:57:58    

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"when violence causes silence
we must me mistaken"

when violence causes silence, means the death of someone or a group of people from the result of violence.

we must be mistaken, meaning its a mistake to resort to this and we shouldn't be fighting

thats my interpretation

anonymous 2007-12-06 02:00:16    

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The "Zombie, Zombie Zombie" sounds like someone shouting at a British soldier. Meaning you are nothing more than a tool and you cannot think for yourself. You are a zombie, devoid of human life, thoughts and feelings.

mtbardal 2007-12-22 23:59:50    

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Yes it is about the IRA and about someone's child but the singers and the rest of the group has nothing too do with it.

If you want to see more information on the IRA I do suggest that you go and watch a movie called some kids mother.

It is about people who were protecting there own rights against the british people and there own nations interstes.

In the Movie it well show you about a family who's son goes to fight ends up in prison for the so called crimes and then when he gets into prison it show the type of conditions they had to go through when they are in H block cells.

But just too warn you guys out there it can be quite a bit graphical and that kids should not watch it at all.

anyways tell me what you think of what I have said and also about what you think of the movie.

sasbarilla 2008-01-16 11:26:31    

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Sorry but Dolores O'riordan (lead singer of the cranberries and the writer of the song!!) even said many many times that this song is a cry against the bombings in London and the violence in Northern Ireland and that she wrote this song so that people would acknowledge this terrible war and it worked FINALLY well near enough
it's not me, its not my family, means she hasn't done any thing neither has her family (country) so why are they suffering for other peoples actions.
zombie zombie zombie means the soldiers and everyone involved in the war are zombies because they are just following orders and they don't think for them selves or bout whats right and wrong!!

anonymous 2008-01-28 23:40:24    

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After reading many interpretations... wow what a great collection of thoughts. It's funny how a song can take on new meaning with the changing of events in our world. It's like how many people refer to 'War Pigs' to Vietnam, and modern times have brought it to a modern "Bush war".

Yes this song was made for 1916; but look... all the new meaning upcoming generations have found. It's no longer about it's intention, rather, all the zombies that have come and gone since. Isn't war still war. Aren't they still trained as zombies? Arn't they still messed up afterwards? And yet, here we are, in the middle of another war. You think we would learn- NO, let me correct myself, you would think government would learn.

anonymous 2008-02-22 06:53:39    

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Again, and for the reasons previously quoted, this is obviously (at least to me) a song in reference to the Conflict in Northern Ireland (as the British press were mandated to refer to it.

Much of the references are, of course, applicable to any conflict and I think even the style in which the song is sung, that grating/screeching delivery of the lyrics, especially the word 'Zombie' itself, expresses the emotion of raw anger that pervades the lyrics. It screams 'Protest Song'.

The child slowly taken is a great example of this duality. Is it the child taken by violence in terms of death, or in terms of seduction by their point in the sectarian cause?

The protest 'It's not my family...' sounds to me like the the age of question of 'Why me?'. I read it this way - Why must my family suffer when we've done nothing wrong?

'Their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns'. The reptition of the phrase 'their bombs' implies to me two different 'theys'. I would suggest the first would be the British Armed Forces (since they're the ones with tanks) and the later the terrorists.

On an asscoiated point, a previous anonymous post stated that 'They're not terrorists, they're freedom fighters.' Frankly this attitude hacks me off (to put it mildly). Anyone who directly and exclusively targets for military action innocent men, women and children - non-combatants by the terms of every article of war I've ever seen - is a terrorist, no matter how legitimate they believe their cause to be. To believe otherwise, or hide behind pretty phrases like 'Freedom Fighter', is to submit to the kind of mindless servitutde this song is refering to. To the poster of that comment I say 'WHAT'S IN YOUR HEAD, ZOMBIE?'.

anonymous 2008-04-23 16:26:15    

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It's obviously about the conflict between the Catholic Irish and the British in Northern Ireland. It shows the impact of this conflict (death of an innocent child, mother's mourning) and the difficulty of anyone to understand the motives of those who continue this war.

The lyric "The violence causes silence" refers to the silence of death.

zoombie 2008-05-16 12:41:47    

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This song is awesome I had to do it for a school project an I couldn't believe it I was shocked how deep it was. I thought it would be funny not serious. The part I liked was and their tanks and their bombs and their bombs in your head in your head they are dying. I think it means when the war was going on the bombs go off an kill people and they wouldn't think twice or even once in your head means when you here voices and people dying and they are thinking they will be next. When it says they are dying people die and it is sad!

EvilEvildiggers 2008-06-17 11:01:02    

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"It's the same old theme since 1916" Its definitely N.Ireland.
its the same old theme refers to the fact that the northern Irish violence has been going along the same old theme since 1916.

anonymous 2008-06-27 23:35:24    

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By the sound of the song and name "zombie", I at first thought of drugs, as well as the lyrics - Another mother's breaking, heart is taken over, and the violence causes silence"

but that's just a perspective, I think the song really is about war, and very well depicts it

anonymous 2008-06-29 04:50:12    

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Zombie refers to the way people were fighting each other. like zombies. mindlessly and meaninglessly.

the song is essentially about the war in Ireland that is happening so close to each other. like Byron Bay To Bangalow. ( about 10 kilometres )

anonymous 2008-07-03 16:20:11    

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Nobody seems to have nailed it...

It's only (initially) in the head of the aggressors (Zombies) that the innocents ('me', my community, 'my family') on which they bestow their viloence, are the ones believing against, or fighting against them.

A contradiction deliberately surrounds this (literally in verse) in the song, that explains things - that when an innocent e.g. 'child' is taken, then so is the 'mother's heart'. Now she believes in opposition fighting.

The song simply asks what are we zombies thinking.

war: mindless.

anonymous 2008-07-20 13:04:13    

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I'm not sure what war it is I mean it could be the irish civil war but I think that she means we can't change society, this is what people before us thought so we must think it. It wasn't my fault it wasn't my family's fault but it happened. It is also just pretty much about death of children and how their parents heart gets broken. The Zombie part I think is about the people killing the children I mean Zombies don't have feelings they are dead and are killing machines. This is my interpretation and I think all your ideas are good :)

anonymous 2008-08-17 16:07:57    

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1916 year is indicated for The Proclamation of the Republic, also known as the 1916 Proclamation or Easter Proclamation in IRELAND.......and it was held on 24th July 1916

smithey69 2008-08-27 01:32:30    

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I believe the song 'Zombie' refers to WWI and the shell-shock that followed, it came latterly known as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). As can be plainly seen in the lyrics "In your head, in your head they're still fighting" meaning that the person in which The Cranberries are talking about is recollecting the events in WWI, the fighting, the carnage, the death etc. I believe this because of the line "It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen", which was right in the middle of World War 1 (1914-1918). "With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns. In your head, in your head, they are dying..." quite obviously refers to the horror of death that must have been present WWI. "Another mother's breakin', Heart is taking over" refers to a mother's heart breaking due to news of her son dying at war, which was obviously very common. My great grandfather was in WWI and suffered PTSD (shell-shock) afterwards. With PTSD you recollect the most traumatic experiences over and over, proving that "In your head, in your head, they are dying" means the person is re-living these images, it is a horrible disease but unfortunately not too uncommon. That is my interpretation of The Cranberries "Zombie"

anonymous 2008-08-30 09:06:52    

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The song is how was affects families, nations. It is Irish-related but can be about any war, the Irish being the only one affecting her would be why it's about Ireland. what she means by violence causing silence is that awful silence that hangs in the air after bombings or shootings on a large scale. a short definition of a zombie is something that can't die. What happens never goes away it lives on in the minds and the hearts of those who were caught in it. Child is slowly taken, taken by war and hate.

anonymous 2008-08-30 09:12:07    

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Child is slowly taken, taken by war and hate by the destruction they see,they can't be children. Its the same old theme, even when events have past it's still the same in our hearts and minds. genocide does tend to leave such an imprint on a nation. If you look at video its only soldiers and children, apart from the band really. Listen and watch.