The Cranberries: "Ode To My Family" (1994)

Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan claims this is about her decision to become a rock star and the conflicts that decision caused with her parents and their Irish traditions. She sings it in a lullaby-like way as if reminiscing on her family back in Ireland.
This was the second single from the Cranberries' widely successful second album. It hit #11 on the Modern Rock charts. (Source: Songfacts.Com)


- Lyrics:

Understand the things I say
Don’t turn away from me
Cause I spent half my life out there
You wouldn’t disagree
D’you see me, d’you see
Do you like me, do you like me standing there
D’you notice, d’you know
Do you see me, do you see me
Does anyone care

Unhappiness, where’s when I was young
And we didn’t give a damn
’cause we were raised
To see life as a fun and take it if we can
My mother, my mother she hold me
Did she hold me, when I was out there
My father, my father, he liked me
Oh! he liked me, does anyone care

Understand what I’ve become
It wasn’t my design
And people everywhere think
Something better than I am
But I miss you, I miss
’cause I liked it, I liked it
When I was out there
D’you know this, d’you know
You did not find me, you did not find
Does anyone care

Unhappiness was when I was young
And we didn’t give a damn
’cause we were raised
To see life as fun and take it if we can
My mother, my mother she hold me
Did she hold me, when I was out there
My father, my father, he liked me
Ol he liked me, does anyone care

Does anyone care