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"Come Away Melinda" is an Anti-war song in the folk genre written by Fred Hellerman (then of The Weavers) and Fran Minkoff in or before 1963. The song's lyrics tell of a small girl ("Melinda") finding a discarded picture book, and enthusiastically telling a parent (her mother in the original version, her father in some revisions) about the pictures in the book. In the first verse, the parent discourages her from looking at the book. In subsequent verses, Melinda describes pictures in the book, only to have the parent answer that the pictures are about people and a way of life Melinda has lost to an unnamed war.

Though no version of the song has ever charted in the United States, several notable artists have recorded their own versions of it. Notable about the song is that nearly every act that performs the piece has changed the lyrics to some degree.

Versions

 * Fred Hellerman performed the song at a reunion concert of The Weavers, at Carnegie Hall, in March, 1963.
 * Harry Belafonte recorded the song as the final track on Streets I Have Walked, also in 1963. In this version, the Choir of Junior High School #59 in Queens sings the part of Melinda, and Belafonte, the father.
 * The Big 3 recorded the song in 1964 with a far slower tempo, adding about a minute to the length of the song, even though one of the verses ("Happy people...ground is green") is left out.
 * Uriah Heep, an English hard rock band, recorded what is likely the most famous version of the song in 1970 for the album Very 'eavy... Very 'umble.
 * UFO, a Heavy Metal group, also from England, recorded their version around the same time as Uriah Heep. UFO's version has a long intro that extends the length of the performance to over five minutes.