Ode to My Family - Acoustic Version

Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan was raised in the countryside of County Limerick, Ireland. This song 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.

In a Songfacts interview with Dolores O'Riordan, she said this was one of the most therapeutic songs for her to write. "'Ode to My Family' was written when I first came to America with The Cranberries," she said. "I was away from my family and friends and I was lonely, so I wrote that." That first trip to America came in the Summer of 1993 after they had already toured Europe to promote their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? The Cranberries were hardly known in the US when they arrived, but by the end of the year, "Linger" was getting airplay, and in 1994 they became huge stars.

In America, the No Need To Argue album was so widely anticipated that their record label, Island, didn't release any singles from the set, forcing listeners to buy the whole album instead of the individual songs. "Ode To My Family" was the second promotional single from the album, following "Zombie." Because it was not sold in stores, it was ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100, but it made #39 on the Airplay chart in April 1995 and also reached #11 on the Modern Rock chart.