"Universal Soldier" is a song written and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriterBuffy Sainte-Marie. The song was originally released on Sainte-Marie's debut album It's My Way! in 1964. "Universal Soldier" was not an immediate popular hit at the time of its release, but it did garner attention within the contemporary folk music community. It became a hit a year later when Donovan covered it, as did Glen Campbell. Sainte-Marie said of the song: "I wrote 'Universal Soldier' in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It's about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all." Sainte-Marie has said she approached writing the song from the perspective of a student writing an essay for a professor who didn't see eye-to-eye with her perspective, hoping to present him with a different point of view.
Composition
In the six verses of the song, a soldier of different heights, ages, religious and political backgrounds is depicted, fighting in different times, for different countries, and with different motives, always thinking that he is fighting for peace but never realizing he is part of the problem. The song ends with: Sainte-Marie sold the publishing rights to the song, but later bought them back for $25,000.
Donovan cover
By 1965, the song had caught the attention of budding folk singer Donovan, who recorded it using a similar arrangement to Buffy Sainte-Marie's original recording. In Donovan's version, Dachau became Liebau, a training center for Hitler Youth. Donovan's recording was released on an EP titled The Universal Soldier in the United Kingdom. The EP continued Donovan's run of high charting releases in the UK by reaching #5 on the charts. The tracks on the EP are "Universal Soldier"; "The Ballad of a Crystal Man" b/w "Do You Hear Me Now?" ; "The War Drags On". The lack of interest in the EP format within the United States led Hickory Records to release the song as a single in September 1965. Donovan's cover of "Universal Soldier" was backed with another track from the British EP: Bert Jansch's "Do You Hear Me Now?". Donovan's US release of "Universal Soldier" also became a hit, charting higher than his previous single "Colours" and ultimately reaching #53 on the Billboard charts. This success led Hickory Records to include the song on the United States release of Donovan's second album, Fairytale, replacing a cover of Bert Jansch's "Oh Deed I Do". Sainte-Marie was glad that Donovan's success with this song got more people to hear it.
Jake Bugg, 2013, performed exclusively for ONE's Agit8 campaign
Response
In 1965, Jan Berry of Jan and Dean released as a single an answer song presenting the opposite point of view, titled "The Universal Coward", which criticized anti-war protesters. Dean Torrence objected and did not participate.
Quoted unknowingly in ''Smithsonian'' article
Lyrics from this song were quoted in Owen Edwards' article "Kilroy Was Here" in the October 2004 edition of Smithsonian. The author identifies the lyrics as "free verse" from "a mysterious poem" that was found written on a cot from a Vietnam War era troopship. The true authorship of the words was provided by more than 285 readers who wrote in to provide a correction.
