Zombie (song)
| zombie | |
|---|---|
| The cranberries | |
| publication | September 13, 1994 |
| length | 5:06 (album version) 4:11 (radio version) |
| Genre (s) | Alternative rock , post grunge |
| text | Dolores O'Riordan |
| music | Dolores O'Riordan |
| album | No need to argue |
Zombie is a song by Dolores O'Riordan released in September 1994 . It was the first single from the album No Need to Argue by the Irish band The Cranberries and the band's third overall. The text deals with the Northern Ireland conflict . The song was recorded in 1994 at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, produced by Stephen Street and released by the Island Records label .
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History of origin
Zombie is considered a protest song against the Northern Ireland conflict . The lyrics to the song were written by Dolores O'Riordan while the band was touring England in 1993 in memory of two children (Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry) who were killed in an IRA bombing on March 20, 1993 in Warrington . Essential passages relate to the Easter Rising of 1916 and its traumatic consequences.
The text says, among other things:
“It's the same old theme since 1916. In your head, In your head they're still fightin 'with their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns. In your head, In your head they are dyin '. "
Frederic C. Millet interprets zombie as a metaphor that war and violence enable everyone to kill for no reason, like robots or as the undead of the uprising of that time. In another line of text, the senselessness of the violent conflict would be reinforced by “What's in your head, zombie”. At the same time, O'Riordan asked her audience why Ireland and England would still fight each other after all these years, as in the line of text "In your head they're still fighting".
style
Stylistically, the title is not typical for the band with electric guitars - Reef equipped that it a grunge - or alternative rock lends -character. The song is in E minor and is in 4/4 time . The intro, the ostinate chord progression Em-CGD, is played calmly by an undistorted electric guitar. Later, a distorted electric guitar, electric bass , drums and a tambourine are used, which altogether increases the volume and dynamics up to the chorus . The female vocals are at times in two voices and also become more expressive in the chorus. The quieter verses and the more dynamic chorus are repeated twice and are interrupted by solo passages from electric guitar and bass until the song ends quietly again.
Music video
The music video was released in the summer of 1994 and produced by Doug Friedman at HSI Productions. As with all single releases of the album "No need to argue", Samuel Bayer directed the album . The video, which is mostly black and white, criticizes the ongoing violence in the Northern Ireland conflict up to the time of its publication. In a first scene the band is shown playing in a barrack without an audience. In another colorful scene, the singer Dolores stands completely dressed in gold in front of a cross in the presence of children who, in turn, are dressed in silver. A third black and white scene shows children playing in a street war and British soldiers controlling cars.
successes
Zombie was the Cranberry's most successful song in Europe and their only number one hit. In Germany the song got a platinum record , in Austria gold . In 1995, Zombie won the MTV Europe Music Award for best song.
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 platinum
|
70,000 |
 Belgium (BEA)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 Germany (BVMI)
|
platinum
|
500,000 |
 Italy (FIMI)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
 gold
|
7,500 |
 Austria (IFPI)
|
gold
|
25,000 |
 Spain (Promusicae)
|
gold
|
20,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
platinum
|
600,000 |
| All in all |
3 × gold 5 × platinum |
1,312,500 |
Main article: The Cranberries / Music Sales Awards
Cover versions
The song has been covered several times by artists from various musical genres.
- In 1995 the Italian quartet ADAM featuring Amy released a Eurodance version that reached number 16 in the British charts.
- In 1995 the fun metal band JBO released the song Odysee on the album Explizite Lyrik on Ukw . This includes the passage "like a deer (eh), like a deer (eh), Bambi, Bambi" to the melody of Zombie.
- Around the same time, the radio station SWF3 played a cover version that referred to the person "Frau Zombie" from the series Feinkost Zipp .
- In 2017 the German rap group 187 Strassenbande used the melody of the chorus for the chorus of their song Millionär , which reached number 2 in the German charts.
- In 2017 , the American rapper Eminem sampled the song for the chorus and beat of his song In Your Head , which is included on his studio album Revival . The piece reached number 19 on the British charts.
- In 2017 the Dutch DJ Ran-D released a hardstyle version of the song.
- In 2018, the American metal band Bad Wolves wanted to record the song again with The Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan , but she died on January 15, 2018 before it was recorded in London. Bad Wolves coverten the song yet and released a music video on February 22, 2018. After a concert in New York City on June 19, 2018, the band one handed check in the amount of 250,000 US dollars to O'Riordan's children.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts IE
- ↑ Buckley, Peter; Buckley, Jonathan (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough guides. P. 241., ISBN 1843531054
- ^ Frederick C. Millett: The Easter Rising and Its Effect on Irish Literature and Music
- ^ Federal Association of the Music Industry: Gold / Platinum Database
- ^ Association of the Austrian Music Industry: Gold & Platinum Database
- ↑ Chartking: MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA)
- ^ Cover ADAM featuring Amy
- ↑ Ran-D Zombie on Beatport. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Graham Hartmann: Bad Wolves Present $ 250,000 Check to Family of Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan. Loudwire, accessed June 20, 2018 .
