The Pro-Life Message of The Cranberries

Much to my surprise and delight, The Cranberries No Need to Argue album has a strong pro-life message. The Cranberries have been around for a while, and I have had that album for a while, but it was only recently that I discovered that not just one, but two songs have a pro-life message. The first that I noticed, The Icicle Melts, was obvious. This is how it goes:

The Icicle Melts
When
When will the icicle melt,
And when
When will the picture show end
I should not have read the papers today
’Cause a child, child he was taken away
There’s a place for the baby that died
And there’s a time for the mother who cried
And she will hold him in her arms sometimes
’Cause nine months is too long
How could you hurt a child
Now does this make you satisfied
I don’t know what’s happening to people today
When a child, he was taken away
There’s a place for the baby that died
There’s a time for the mother that cried
And she will hold him in her arms sometimes
’Cause nine months is too long
There’s a place for the baby that died
And there’s a time for the mother that cried
And you will hold him in your arms sometimes
’Cause nine months is too long


This song was never on the radio that I know of, so probably few have ever heard it. It is Zombie that gave me a big surprise. The only way to actually understand what it means is to have heard The Icicle Melts. Consequently, everyone to my knowledge has always understood it as a sort of anti-war song. It really isn’t and that will become quite obvious in a minute. For an anti-war song, it was rather vague and many portions made almost no sense. Here’s how it goes:

Zombie (go to the bottom of that page to hear a clip)
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 cryin'
In your head
Zombie
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie
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
In your head they are dying
In your head, in your head
Zombie
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie

Note some parallels:
The Icicle Melts: When a child, he was taken away
Zombie: Child is slowly taken

So we can note some imagery that seems to be being used to denote an abortion.

The Icicle Melts: And there’s a time for the mother who cried
Zombie: Another mother's breakin'
Heart is taking over

Both songs speak about mothers, and we can also assume that the head that hangs lowly is also that of a mother.

These connect the two songs, but there is also more in Zombie that can lead us to the pro-life conclusion once we have established that there seems to be a connection between the two songs.
“And the violence caused such silence” – I have heard that there is a film about abortion called The Silent Scream. This may or may not where this phrase came from, but it makes much more sense that this a reference to abortion than to war. The violence of war certainly is not silent. The whole “in your head” theme also suggests a sort of violence that is less out in the open.

I would like to contact the band some time and try to confirm all this. After listening to the songs many many times, I do not find this a far fetched interpretation, but it would be nice to know I’m right. It is a shame really that Zombie was not understood for what it was, just thrown into the pile of anti-war and anti-violence songs. Perhaps an audience could have been reached that really needed to hear its message.