Zombie

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 their bombs, and their guns
In your head, in your head they are crying

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie
What’s in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie, oh

Dolores O’ Riordan died today at the young age of 46.

I was 13 years old when Zombie was released, a song written to highlight the sheer brutality of actions by both sides during the war known by a ludicrously gentle name: The Troubles.

The child in the opening lyric references the death of of 2 children during the 1993 Warrington bomb attacks conducted by the Provisional IRA, a splinter group who claimed to fight for people who persistently disowned them. It’s not me, it’s not my family.

The bombing was followed by the UDA execution of six Catholics in Northern Ireland just 5 days later, and collectively these events felt like a type of last straw to a conflict spanning decades.

Zombie was written and released along with a haunting video the following year. It changed things. It went global. It became the anthem of a generation who offered terrorist groups no support. No moral high ground. No one (who mattered) condoned, defended, explained, or justified their actions any longer. No one wanted this, no one wanted them.

The road to peace from that point onwards was anything but smooth. Worse events were to follow either side of temporary ceasefires. But it got there.

And every time I hear the horrible phrases like“The Troubles”, “Provisional IRA”, “UDA” or any of their ilk my mind immediately jumps to a 23 year old Limerick woman who put pen to paper to say that enough is fucking enough.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.
May she rest in peace