Songs About Zombies and the Undead

There's a Youtube playlist at the end of this commentary.

Zombies! What is it about zombies that makes them so popular? Sure everyone likes a good scare and zombies are a staple of horror movies. But they are much more than that. In an article at Vox, Zachary Crockett argues that “the creature is more than an aesthetic horror – it is a form of political commentary. For 80 years, the undead have been used by filmmakers and writers as a metaphor for much deeper fears: racial sublimation, atomic destruction, communism, mass contagion, globalism – and, more than anything, each other.”

The zombie trope is a familiar one and our first three tunes visit our common notions about the walking dead. Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler start us off on an eerie, albeit lively rockin’ mood with Zombie Christmas. “Don’t get caught beneath the mistletoe!” they warn. Buck 65’s Zombie Delight continues to explore the trope but notes that “one weird thing is they’re excellent dancers”.

A surprising number of zombie songs use spoken word and narration to explore the theme. And oddly, two of them were backed by surf music. One such is the Taikonauts’ Zombie Prophecies which takes the form of a newscast.

Zombies seem to be a cross-cultural phenomenon. The back end of Zombie Prophecies is in French. And zombies and other forms of the undead are a staple of Caribbean and Spanish culture. Harry Belafonte tells about the Zombie Jamboree. There were actually four versions of this song nominated. In the Caribbean they are often referred to as jumbies.

Spanish singers Peret and Marina give us a rumba number about El Muerto Vivo (The Living Dead). And Mexican troubadour Mister Chivo warns us Vienen Los Zombies (The Zombies are Coming!).

They are not just popular in the Spanish speaking world either. A few Japanese takes were offered, my favourite being Living Dead Diner Girls by Tommy heavenly6. A heavy metal number, it mixes Japanese and English. “Are you ready to order? Scream with my living dead diner girls!”

It was pointed out, quite correctly, that while all zombies are undead, not all the undead are zombies. One such non-zombie is the ghost that takes a corporeal form. Red Sovine tells the tale of Phantom 309, a big rig semi driven by Big Joe. Occasionally Joe picks up a hitchhiker and drops him off at a roadside cafe where the staff and other patrons fill him in on the heroic spectre he has just met.

Two songs tell the zombie story from the point of view of the undead themselves. Arab Strap’s song tells of two lovers who resurrect after seven years in the grave. Though they are rather gory, nevertheless “We’ve got the hay, so let’s roll,” Aidan Moffat sings in The Turning of the Bones.

Sting also gives us the POV of the undead, a vampire in this case. “I have stood many times outside her window at night to struggle with my instinct in the pale moonlight,” he laments. “I must love what I destroy and destroy the thing I love,” under the Moon over Bourbon Street.

As I mentioned earlier, zombies are often used as a “metaphor for much deeper fears,” so we take a serious turn now. The Cranberries make a pointed commentary on sectarian violence in Ireland with Zombie. From the 1960s to the 1990s over 3500 people were killed and tens of thousands were injured. The song was written in response to the deaths of two children, victims of an IRA bombing. She compares the perpetrators to zombies, mindless ghouls out to destroy.

King Mas takes a similar tack with Zombie Apocalypse, a rap number taking a sharp jab at contemporary consumer society.

So we arrive at the end of our undeadly journey with my favourite find of the week. Walk With the Zombie is a blues number with some terrific guitar work. It’s from Graham Wood Drout’s Iko-Iko. The music is lush and soulful.

This column was originally published at the Song Bar. Check it out for weekly topical playlists where you can suggest the songs. Check out my website The Marconium for over 750 topical playlists.