This Zombie Was Very Much Alive

In tribute to Saint Patrick's Day I'd like to honor one of the best songs an Irish recording act has ever come down the pike with, or quite possibly ever will. In 1994, The Cranberries released their sophomore album "No Need To Argue". The first single from said album was "Zombie". Few songs step for step exhibit funeral hearse worthy heaviness at quite the same level "Zombie" does. Each heart ripping juncture in the road is played up for maximum ire. Dolores O'Riordan squeezes a great deal mileage out of the question: 'How can you just close your eyes to the violence circulating around you? That won't make it vanish." According to Dolores the song was inspired by a child's death. The child fell victim to the explosive aftermath of a bomb being planted in a London rubbish bin. It's an act of territorial saber rattling not at all uncommon between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The year 1916 connects to the time frame of the despicable act. Each of the instruments plods along as if the last drops of oxygen were just moments away. From the minute I first heard it I was stunned. You'd need to take a few cleansing breaths just to reclaim an "All's right with the world" optimism. Dolores employed an astonishing level of restraint to keep the obvious outrage in her voice from bubbling up to catastrophic proportions. Fortunately, even though the beginnings of each passage found her tamping down her consternation, raw nerve endings won the day. To hear her come unglued fragment by fragment was a watershed moment. Fergal Lawler drove the downbeat point home with his drum work. You knew the overhead skies were begging to unleash a torrent but, as can be the case with Texas storms, Nature left us waiting in agony for the ozone hole to rip open. Michael Hogan's bass playing glowered from whichever sound system the masses received this song through. Brother Noel's lead guitar cried: "Enough already!" He pasted a portrait of souls beaten down, struggling for the trickle of light showing the way out. Certain songs need elbow room to make their presence felt. Five minutes and six seconds was ideal. "Zombie" scooped generously from the inky black end of the color wheel. It's certainly not an easy listen, but  you couldn't ask for more of a bracing display of musicianship. It would appear even zombies have humanized souls. In its own way "Zombie" rocks just as hard as Irish brethren U2 do on their masterful "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Difference is "Zombie" smolders until the only smell listeners could make out was thick smoke. The foursome slashed those old wounds wide open until you couldn't help but shed tears at the needless bloodshed. In my opinion "Zombie" deserves to be thought of as one of the top 20 songs from the '90s as well as a perfect argument supporting music lovers who think the mid 90s was the least truly great period for contemporary music. "Zombie" beat you down slowly, surely, conclusively. No argument was left unapproached. In the end there was nothing left to say. When your point gets made as succinctly as was the case here why should you complicate the facts?