Fee Fi Fo

Artist: The Cranberries
Released on: Bury The Hatchet (Track #12)
Duration: 4:47

LYRICS

Fee Fi Fo she smells his body, she smells his body
And it makes her sick to her mind
He has got so much to answer for, to answer for
To ruin a child’s mi-ind
How could you touch something so innocent and pu-u-u-ure
Obscu-u-u-ure
How could you satisfaction from the body of a chi-i-i-ild
You’re vi-i-i-ile, sick

It’s true what people say
God protects the ones who help themselves in their own way yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s true what people say
God protects the ones who help themselves in their own way yea yea yea yea yea yea
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee yea

He was sitting in her bedroom, in her bedroom
And now what should she do
She’s got so much insecurity, and his impurity
It was a gathering down

How could you touch something so innocent and pu-u-u-ure
Obscu-u-u-ure
How could you satisfaction from the body of a chi-i-i-ild
You’re vi-i-i-ile, sick

It’s true what people say
God protects the ones who help themselves in their own way yea yea yea yea yea yea
And I often wondered to myself
Who protects the ones who can’t protect themselves yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s true what people say
God protects the ones who help themselves in their own way yea yea yea yea yea yea
And I often wondered to myself
Who protects the ones who can’t protect themselves yea yea yea yea yea yea
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-yea (Fee Fi Fo)
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a (Fee Fi Fo), ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a (Fee Fi Fo), ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a (Fee Fi Fo), ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee-ee-ye-a, ee-ee-ee

CREDIT INFORMATION

  • Music by Noel Hogan & Dolores O’Riordan
  • Lyrics Dolores O’Riordan
  • Produced by The Cranberries & Benedict Fenner
  • Engineered and Mixed by Mike Plotnikoff at Sarm West and Olympic (London)
  • Recorded at metalworks (Toronto), Windmill Lane (Dublin), Le Miravel (France), Sarm West (London)
  • Mastered at Gateway Mastering Studios (Portland, Maine)
  • Published by PolyGram International Publishing Inc. (ASCAP) 1999

MEANING

  • In an interview given in 1999 to Hot Press, Dolores explained that the song is about child abuse, “It’s the worst crime. I think they should be castrated. I just think that people who sexually abuse children get off too easy. They get back out after a couple of weeks because, ‘Oh, he’s psychologically ill’. Which I can understand, but then people get thrown in the can for eight years for smoking dope or something. I think the system is kind of weird that way. It hammers people who are doing harmless things while these perverts, these paedophiles, are shown leniency”
  • In an interview to Launch in 1999 Dolores said, “That song is about child abuse, and when you listen to it, you hear that kind of fear. This child is being abused by a man, and the man is not going away. When I write a song like that, I try to put real feelings and fears that are part of this topic in there. So there’s darkness, which is such a beautiful vulnerability. Then there’s the anger of the person who’s singing the song”

NOTES

  • The album version of this track was featured on the June 1999 edition of “Q” magazine compilation CD “Here Comes The Sun”

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