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Ashley Totten

Professor Scott

English 1201, K14

17 February 2024

Rhetorical Analysis: Bad Wolves VS. The Cranberries

In the song Zombie Originally sung performed by The Cranberries then covered by

Bad Wolves in 2018, the lyric, “Child is slowly taken” is basically the premise of the whole

song. If you continue reading you will know why. The Cranberries Original Song Zombie is

about losing children to meaningless war, whereas the cover by Bad Wolves is just a tribute to

Delores O’Riordan after her passing. Meaning two artists can sing the same song and even

though the true meaning of the song never changed, the circumstance in which it was released

is what changed the audience’s perspective on the song.

Context is a big thing when it comes to a Rhetorical analysis, that’s why I’m going to

give you some insight on both versions. Zombie, originally sung by The Cranberries is an

alternative rock song about losing children due to war. his version of the song gives a very good

visual description of what the song truly means. The entire town in which the video had taken

place, had shown us building that were falling apart, and children that were playing around in the

dirt and mud. Then it cuts to these same children, plus more, dressed almost as angels, with their

“Halos” and their bow and arrows. With lead singer, Delores O’Riordan, in the background

with a cross furthers my belief that these scenes, with the children and Delores, do in fact

resemble some sort of death or passing. In this case it would be the children. It’s about war,
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because of the mention of the lyrics, “With their tanks and their bomb, and their bombs, and

their guns,” and with the scenes with men in camo with guns.

With Context about the second version, Bad Wolves did a hard rock cover of Zombie in

January 2018. This song takes a turn with the cover. This song was sung by Bad wolves because

it was a tribute to Delores O’Riordan after her unfortunate passing. Although, this never changed

the true, real, meaning of the song. The tone in which Tommy Vext, lead singer of Bad Wolves,

sings this cover, changes the ultimate mood of the song. The emotion thrown into this cover

makes you understand how distraught he may be about O’Riordan’s passing. However, the mood

wasn’t the only thing that changed with this cover. The setting also changed, this time, the only

thing painted in gold was a woman, representing how life and death might be separated but the

memory of the person who died especially with the gold handprint that’s left on the glass until

the glass shatters. The glass, in this case, represents the memory of Delores and how Vext wants

her memory to reside with everyone. In hopes that the memory of her never goes away.

Rhetorical appeals, it’s a way of showing the audience how, in this case, the song artist

can express their point. In these music videos, both show pathos. Pathos is the rhetorical appeal

that focus on the emotional aspects of the song. They help people to connect to their work on an

emotional level. You can tell by how both artists are singing that there’s a lot of emotion in their

tone of voice. However, they both have different reasons as to why they were showing the

emotion that they did. The Cranberries also made sure to use ethos, Delores was able to use her

empowering voice to get her point across.

The first two paragraphs are what lead me to believe that even if two artists sing the

same lyrics, the different circumstances in which lead them to sing the song can change an

audience’s perspective. For instance, when the lyrics, “Child is slowly taken,” as said in my
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pervious paragraph, the cover song wasn’t wanting to touch on the real meaning of the song,

although, its still a good topic to touch on, he wanted people to grieve O’Riordan’s passing.

However, the original song wants people to understand that you lose innocent lives when it

comes to war. The lyrics say, “Another mothers breaking, heart is taking over,” it talks about

the emotion a mother must be going through to lose their children in such a tragic way.

When it comes to music, sometimes it’s hard to decipher who the audience may be.

However, these two songs are quite easier to understand who the audience is. In the original by

The Cranberries, the audience is to government officials, or maybe military generals. She’s

wanting to tell them that war is killing innocent people, maybe we should stop. In the cover

version, by Bad Wolves, the audience might be the fans of The Cranberries, or maybe just Bad

Wolves fans. Or, maybe, the audience is for people who were close with Delores. With those

people being the target audience, it may be that way to help those people grieve her passing.

In conclusion, the difference between the Cover and the original version of zombie,
highlights the diverse interpretations music offers. While The Cranberries show a more somber
and emotional approach to touch on social issues. Bad Wolves, not only, touched on the
importance grievance shows, but they showed that through urgency and defiance. Even with their
differences, both versions resound a lot, they both demonstrate the power in which music holds
when it comes to conveying important messages. This means that, when two artists sing the same
song, the reason that makes them sing it can change how we see the song.

Works Cited

Wolves, Bad. “Bad Wolves - Zombie (Official Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Feb. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ. Accessed February 11th, 2024

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O’Riordan, Delores. “The Cranberries - Zombie (Official Music Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 16

June 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts. Accessed February 11th, 2024