Colin Parry learns of Cranberries' IRA Warrington bomb song on Dolores O'Riordan's death

The father of a 12-year-old boy killed by the IRA in the Warrington bombings only learned of how The Cranberries wrote a song about the atrocity on the passing of lead singer Dolores O'Riordan on Monday.

There was shock at the news of the 46-year-old musician's death. She had been in London for a recording session when she died suddenly. Police ruled out anything suspicious in the death.

The singer, from Limerick, enjoyed success with the band in the 1990s with hit singles including Linger and Zombie.

There was an outpouring of grief and tributes for the Limerick woman, one of which came from Colin Parry whose son Tim was killed in the 1993 bomb attack in Warington.

 

Tim died of his injuries five days after the attack while another child, Johnathan Ball (3) died instantly after two bombs were placed in litter bins in Bridge Street exploding just after midday on a sunny Saturday afternoon. No warning was given and 56 others were injured in the blast.

The Cranberries song Zombie was penned about the attack. The video for the song was filmed in west Belfast.

Mr Parry only learned on Monday the song Zombie was written about the IRA attack which claimed the life of his son.

"I was completely unaware," he told the BBC.

"After my wife told me I watched the song and tried to listen to the words and then went to download them to read."

In the song Dolores sings: "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 crying."

Mr Parry continued: "The words are majestic and very real. The event at Warrington,  like so many events around these islands of Ireland and Great Britain down the many years affected families in very real ways and people may have become immune to the pain and suffering so many people experienced through that armed campaign.

"To read the words written by an Irish band in such a compelling way was very, very powerful.

"I likened it to the enormous amount of mail expressing huge sympathy that we received in the days and weeks after our loss and we had an enormous amount and proportionally a very high amount came from the island of Ireland."

Belfast Telegraph