"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
I wanna know what's inside
I slip into your house
Well I can't take for granted
How your bones are planted
What things appear to be
They're just illusions to me
I wanna get inside and move around
I wanna get inside and swirm all around
Ohhhhh...
This is my work of art
Pull back the skin
Rearrange the bones
The ground beneath the grass
The truth behind the lie
The love between the hate
Woah, but it's the skin you see
And it's the skin you want
This is my work of art
Pull back the skin
Rearrange the bones
It's not the skin that matters
It's not the skin that matters
It's not the skin, it's the bones
Don't lay your troubles on me
When you refuse to see
One hundred years from now
It's the bones you'll see
On hundred years from now
What's left of you and me
This is my first... hell-no
Pull back the skin
Blow upon the bones
Hold your hand up to the light
Hold your lies up to the light
Hold your hate up to the light
You see the gnarled, twisted and broken...bones
I slip into your house
Well I can't take for granted
How your bones are planted
What things appear to be
They're just illusions to me
I wanna get inside and move around
I wanna get inside and swirm all around
Ohhhhh...
This is my work of art
Pull back the skin
Rearrange the bones
The ground beneath the grass
The truth behind the lie
The love between the hate
Woah, but it's the skin you see
And it's the skin you want
This is my work of art
Pull back the skin
Rearrange the bones
It's not the skin that matters
It's not the skin that matters
It's not the skin, it's the bones
Don't lay your troubles on me
When you refuse to see
One hundred years from now
It's the bones you'll see
On hundred years from now
What's left of you and me
This is my first... hell-no
Pull back the skin
Blow upon the bones
Hold your hand up to the light
Hold your lies up to the light
Hold your hate up to the light
You see the gnarled, twisted and broken...bones
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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