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 fightin’
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head, in your head, they are cryin’
In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie
What’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh
Doo, doo, doo-doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo-doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo-doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo-doo, doo
Another mother’s breakin’
Heart is taking over
When the violence causes silence
We must be mistaken
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’
In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie
What’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Eh-eh, oh, ya-ya
Songwriter-Dolores O’Riordan
There were a lot of bombs going off in London and I remember this one time a child was killed when a bomb was put in a rubbish bin – that’s why there’s that line in the song, ‘A child is slowly taken’. [ ... ] We were on a tour bus and I was near the location where it happened, so it really struck me hard – I was quite young, but I remember being devastated about the innocent children being pulled into that kind of thing. So I suppose that’s why I was saying, ‘It’s not me’ – that even though I’m Irish it wasn’t me, I didn’t do it. Because being Irish, it was quite hard, especially in the UK when there was so much tension.
— Dolores O’Riordan in 2017, on writing “Zombie”