
A MAN LIKE JUDGE DREDD
Come away Melinda
Come in and close the door
That someone is your Mommy
You had before the war
I think it was Tim Rose’s version I must have heard. I played it today and found it very emotional, although I recall the voice differently. The voice I remember was appropriately dark, harsh and cruel. So maybe it was a more obscure version I heard back in the 60s. Or perhaps it was just how I heard it in my head? It was definitely not Uriah Heep’s which is quite gentle by comparison, and let’s not talk about Harry Belafonte’s! The number of covers of this song suggests just how meaningful and important it was to kids at the time. A great example of how musicians can be polemical, entertaining and successful, despite today’s bland brigade’s desire to dismiss anything thoughtful in music, film, books or comics as ‘getting on a soapbox’. I do my best to ignore them and retain in my stories that cutting edge these beautiful and savage lyrics have.