The Cranberries: Songs and Lyrics Quiz

Answer: Linger

"Linger" was released in the early 1990s and soon became one of the most famous songs by The Cranberries. Band members stated in interviews that the song was about O'Riordan's first kiss and a negative romantic experience with a young soldier. The song, part of the album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?", was notably played on a frequent basis on MTV. O'Riordan herself even said that she remembers hearing her own song constantly on that music channel.

Answer: Dreams

"Dreams" was the first single released by The Cranberries. Also part of their album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?", the song was received positively by critics and performed relatively well on international charts. The song was written by Dolores O'Riordan and Noel Hogan.

It has been used in several films and TV shows over the years, especially productions from the 1990s like "Mission: Impossible", "You've Got Mail", "Boys on the Side", and "My So-Called Life".

Answer: Go Your Own Way

A wide array of successful artists like Elton John, Matchbox Twenty, The Corrs, and the Goo Goo Dolls collaborated on the album "Legacy: A Tribute To Fleetwood Mac's Rumours". As its name suggests, the album contained covers of Fleetwood Mac songs by other musicians. "Go Your Own Way" was originally released by Fleetwood Mac in 1976 and has since been covered many times. The Cranberries played a live version of "Go Your Own Way", for example, in a 1999 concert in Paris.

Interestingly, Fleetwood Mac and The Cranberries both have a song called "Dreams". In the Fleetwood Mac tribute album, that song was covered by The Corrs.

Answer: Saving Grace

"Saving Grace" was one of the songs in The Cranberries' fourth studio album, "Bury the Hatchet". The lyrics and melody are rather simple but quite soothing. A stanza and the chorus of the song go like this: "Can you hold on while I take hold of myself? Can you hold on while I take hold of myself? You're the little thing, my saving grace, you're just a little thing, my saving grace".

Some fans believe that the song is about O'Riordan having a child since the song and album were released after she had her first child.

Answer: Promises

"Promises" was the first single from "Bury the Hatchet", the fourth studio album by The Cranberries that was released in 1999. The album version is a few minutes longer than the radio version. The song had a good performance on international charts, especially in Spain. "Promises" is about a relationship that was broken up.

More specifically, O'Riordan once said in an interview that this song was about divorce.

Answer: Free to Decide

"Free to Decide" was released as a single in 1996 and was also part of the album "To the Faithful Departed". Written by O'Riordan, the song was a response to certain members of the press (mainly paparazzi) who Dolores felt were harassing her and spreading rumors about her.

The lyrics, such as those repeated in the question, send a clear message to the press that there must be more important things to do than harassing her.

Answer: Animal

"Animal Instinct" is a single that opened the "Bury the Hatchet" album, released in 1999. The "animal instinct" that O'Riordan is referring to, according to a 1999 interview, is connected to parenting and how deeply having a child changed her. Dolores also mentioned that she thought that being able to give birth and feed children with her own body was extraordinary.

The lyrics refer to the animal instinct as "a lovely thing that we have".

Answer: Uncertain

The band's first EP recording was "Uncertain", released in 1991. It was a nearly 15-minute long EP that had four songs, all with lyrics by Dolores O'Riordan and music by O'Riordan and Noel Hogan. The other three tracks were "Nothing Left at All", "Pathetic Senses", and "Them". Though the band had previously released some works under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, "Uncertain" was the first EP that they released officially as The Cranberries.

Answer: William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats inspired the song "Yeats' Grave", which was included in The Cranberries' second studio album, "No Need to Argue". One common interpretation of the lyrics is that Dolores O'Riordan, like Yeats, used her painful life experiences to create her fantastic art. William Butler Yeats is one of the most influential Irish poets in history. Two of his poems, "No Second Troy" and "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", inspired the song by The Cranberries.

Answer: The Troubles

"Zombie" was released by The Cranberries in September of 1994. The single was one of the biggest hits for the band, as it peaked at the top position in charts all around the world (such as in the U.S., France, Germany, and Belgium). This protest song was written by Dolores O'Riordan following the death of two children in the Warrington bombings, which were part of The Troubles. This long-lasting conflict largely involved the Irish Republican Army and its efforts to have Northern Ireland become independent from the United Kingdom.

"Zombie" has several poignant lyrics, some of which are: "With their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns, in your head, in your head, they are crying".