"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.
It ain't even cold outside, not where I'm from
Feeling like it's mid-July under the sun
My jacket don't get no love
No hats and no gloves, not even a chance of rain
But my baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Take me to the ice-skating rink downtown (no, no, no, downtown)
Even though it's a hundred degrees, gotta get out (out)
Ain't no ice and no chills, no snowmen to build
Most of our friends at the beach
But my baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Just imagine that we're laughing
In my cabin, chillin' by the fireside
Even though this sun is blasting
We can be wherever if we visualize
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Ooh (ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah)
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
La-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la
Feeling like it's mid-July under the sun
My jacket don't get no love
No hats and no gloves, not even a chance of rain
But my baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Take me to the ice-skating rink downtown (no, no, no, downtown)
Even though it's a hundred degrees, gotta get out (out)
Ain't no ice and no chills, no snowmen to build
Most of our friends at the beach
But my baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Just imagine that we're laughing
In my cabin, chillin' by the fireside
Even though this sun is blasting
We can be wherever if we visualize
Hey-oh, I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole
Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday
Made just for me and my baby
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things
Hey, yeah
Ooh (ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah)
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
La-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Winter Things Lyrics as written by Peter Lee Johnson Ariana Grande
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Matt Shadows their lead singer says the song was written as per request from the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Watching the initial trailers for the game & looking at production sketches reminded him of the 'S-Town' podcast & its main protagonist, John B. McLemore. Matt also comments specifically on the lyrics: "I decided that the lyrics would shadow McLemore's life." In 2012, antiquarian horologist John B. McLemore sent an email to the staff of the show 'This American Life' asking them to investigate an alleged murder in his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama, a place McLemore claimed to despise. After a year of exchanging emails & several months of conversation with McLemore, producer Brian Reed traveled to Woodstock to investigate. Reed investigated the crime & eventually found that no such murder took place, though he struck up a friendship with the depressed but colorful character of McLemore. He recorded conversations with McLemore & other people in Woodstock. McLemore killed himself by drinking potassium cyanide on June 22, 2015 while the podcast was still in production. In the narrative of the podcast, this occurs at the end of the second episode; subsequent episodes deal with the fallout from McLemore's death while exploring more of McLemore's life & character.
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