‘All You Zombies’ is a song by American rock band The Hooters, written by the band's founding members Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman. It was first recorded live and released as a single in 1982. It was subsequently included on the band's debut album Amore (1983) and an extended version of the song was included on their second album Nervous Night (1985). This version was released as a single in 1985 and reached No. 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also charted within the top 20 in Germany and New Zealand, but was most successful in Australia, where it reached Number 8 on the charts in 1985.
The song was written by Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian, who founded The Hooters. It is filled with biblical images and created some controversy. Hyman told us: "I think the spirituality of it wasn't premeditated. I think everyone is a spiritual person in whatever they believe or not. There was no real agenda on our part. I know it got banned on several stations, which interested us - there were some Christian stations that refused to play it. There were articles - we never understood the controversy that much, but it stimulated activity. For a writer, that's the best thing you can do."
Hyman: "That may have been the fastest song Eric and I ever wrote that was of any quality. We've written some quick songs, but that one stayed with us. That one we literally did write in one night. We like to call it the '10-minute song,' I think it was more like a couple hours, but we did bang it out in one night."
The Hooters first released a version of ‘All You Zombies’ recorded live at the Emerald City nightclub in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on 11 April 1981. The single was released in 1982 by Eighty Percent Records. A different version of the song later appeared on the Amore album, released independently in 1983. Hyman and Bazilian had worked with Cyndi Lauper on her album She's So Unusual, which led to Columbia Records offering the band a contract. They re-released ‘All You Zombies’ with additional instrumental sections, making the song almost six minutes long. It became a minor hit in the US, reaching the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and a top 10 success in Australia. The single also reached the top 20 in New Zealand and Germany.
Eric Bazilian told the Chicago Tribune in 1985 that he didn't know the meaning of the song despite having written it. "People ask us what it's about ... the weird thing is we didn't consciously put [the heavy stuff] there." Hyman later said that the biblical images, including Moses and Noah, were not part of any agenda, though some radio stations refused to play it. "I love songs like that, you just listen and every time you hear it you kind of wonder what's going on." The song has no connection to the 1958 Robert A. Heinlein story " '—All You Zombies—' ".
Labels – Eighty Percent (1982), Columbia (1985)
Songwriters – Eric Bazilian, Rob Hyman
Producer – Rick Chertoff
SONG LYRICS
[Instrumental Intro][Verse 1]
Holy Moses met the Pharaoh
Yeah, he tried to set him straight
Looked him in the eye
"Let my people go"
[Verse 2]
Holy Moses on the mountain
High above the golden calf
Went to get the Ten Commandments
He's just gonna break 'em in half
[Chorus]
All you zombies hide your faces
All you people in the street
All you sittin' in high places
The pieces gonna fall on you
[Verse 3]
No one ever spoke to Noah
They all laughed at him instead
Working on his ark
Workin' all by himself
[Verse 4]
Only Noah saw it coming
Forty days and forty nights
Took his sons and daughters with him
Yeah, they were the Israelites
[Chorus]
All you zombies hide your faces
All you people in the street
All you sittin' in high places
The rain's gonna fall on you
[Instrumental Bridge]
[Verse 5]
Holy Father, what's the matter?
Where have all your children gone?
Sittin' in the dark
Livin' all by themselves
You don’t have to hide anymore
[Chorus]
All you zombies hide your faces
All you people in the street
All you sittin' in high places
The pieces gonna fall on you
[Outro]
All you zombies show your faces (I know you're out there!)
All you people in the street (Let's see you!)
All you sittin' in high places
It's all gonna fall on you
(Zombie!)