All You Zombies (song)

Influenced by Reggae music, co-writer Eric Bazilian said the band was working on a different song when the idea "just came to us, like a vision." The band members dropped their work on the other song and finished "All You Zombies" that night. Writing partner Rob Hyman believed the song to be the fastest they had written "that was of any quality."[3][4]

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. 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 hit, reaching the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and top 10 in Australia.

The song has been covered by German singer Sandra for her eighth studio album The Art of Love, and released as a promo single. Another cover was published by the German band Santiano in 2013 (album Mit den Gezeiten). They used a German text and changed it into a song about Vikings going to Walhalla, which is the title of the song.

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.[3] Hyman later told Songfacts 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."[4]