A MAN LIKE JUDGE DREDD

by May 18, 2016

Talking to Stephen Reid for the Everything Comes Back To 2000 AD podcast reminded me of the songs that inspired me on Cursed Earth. One such song was Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction which still holds up well today. But the other one, Come Away Melinda, led directly to the story of Novar, my mutant survivor of nuclear war in the Cursed Earth. I even adapted some of the lyrics as they moved me so much.

Come away Melinda

Come in and close the door

That someone is your Mommy

You had before the war

Cursed Earth by Pat Mills

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.

 

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