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Universal Soldier (song)

{{Short description|1964 single}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Universal Soldier

| cover =

| alt =

| type = song

| artist = Buffy Sainte-Marie

| album = It's My Way!

| released = April 1964

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Folk rock

| length = {{Duration|m=02|s=17}}

| label = Vanguard

| writer = Buffy Sainte-Marie

| producer = Maynard Solomon

}}

"Universal Soldier" is a song written by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The first released recording was a single by The Highwaymen, released in September 1963.{{cite web |url=https://vancouversignaturesounds.com/hits/the-universal-soldier-by-glen-campbell/ |title=The Universal Soldier by Glen Travis Campbell |publisher=Vancouver Signature Songs |language=English |author=Ray McGinnis |date=15 July 2020 |accessdate=31 January 2023 }} The song was also released on Sainte-Marie's debut album It's My Way!, released in April 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."{{Cite web |url=http://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=789 |title=It's My Way (1964) |publisher=Buffy Sainte-Marie }} The premise of the song is that politicians, with power over the military, in democratic states are elected by the people.{{cite web |url=https://www.cshf.ca/song/universal-soldier/ |title=Universal Soldier |publisher=Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame |accessdate=31 January 2023 }}

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.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-hamilton-spectator/20170203/281960312484547 |title=Return of the protest song |last=Friend |first=David |date=February 3, 2017 |website=The Hamilton Spectator }}

Composition

In the six verses of the song, soldiers of different heights, ages, religious and political backgrounds are depicted, fighting in different times, for different countries (starting with Canada, where Buffy Sainte-Marie claimed to come from), and with different motives, all thinking that they are fighting for peace but never realizing that they are part of the problem. The song ends with:

{{poemquote|He's the Universal Soldier

and he really is to blame.

His orders come from far away no more.

They come from him and you and me,

and brothers, can't you see

this is not the way to put an end to war.}}

(Donovan sang "...from here and there and you and me")

Sainte-Marie sold the publishing rights to the song, but later bought them back for $25,000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/91f59c7e-77e2-11de-9713-00144feabdc0|title=Buffy Sainte-Marie is recording again|newspaper=Financial Times}}

Donovan cover

{{Infobox song

| name = Universal Soldier

| cover =

| alt =

| type =

| artist = Donovan

| EP = The Universal Soldier

| released = {{Start date|1965|08|15}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Folk rock

| length = {{Duration|m=02|s=16}}

| label = Pye (NEP 24219)

| writer = Buffy Sainte-Marie

| producer = *Terry Kennedy

  • Peter Eden
  • Geoff Stephens

| chronology = The Universal Soldier EP track listing

| tracks = {{hidden

| expanded =

| title = 4 tracks

| text =

;Side one

  1. "Universal Soldier"
  2. "The Ballad of a Crystal Man"

;Side two

  1. "Do You Hear Me Now?"
  2. "The War Drags On"

}}

}}

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.{{Gilliland|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19793/m1/ |title=Show 34 – Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library |accessdate=April 29, 2011}} In Donovan's version, Dachau became Liebau (Lubawka, Poland), a training center for Hitler Youth.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} Donovan's recording was released on an EP titled The Universal Soldier in the United Kingdom (August 15, 1965). The EP continued Donovan's run of high charting releases in the UK by reaching No. 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?" (Bert Jansch); "The War Drags On" (Mick Softley).

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 No. 53 on the Billboard charts{{CN|date=March 2022}} and No. 21 in Canada, co-charting with Glen Campbell's version.{{cite web|url=http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Vol+4%2C+No.+8+-+Week+of+October+18th%2C+1965.pdf| title=RPM Magazine - October 18, 1965 - page 5}} 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". Cash Box described it as "a plaintive, twangy, medium-paced message-song which takes a strong anti-war stand."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=September 11, 1965 |page=14 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1965/CB-1965-09-11.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}

Sainte-Marie was glad that Donovan's success with this song got more people to hear it.

Other covers

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.{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Mark A. |title=The Jan & Dean Record: A Chronology of Studio Sessions, Live Performances and Chart Positions |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland & Co. |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=9780786498123 |page=261 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTPECwAAQBAJ&q=%22the+universal+coward%22+%22jan+berry%22+dean&pg=PA261 |access-date=August 12, 2019}} Dean Torrence objected and did not participate.{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ronald D. |last2=Kaufman |first2=Will |title=Singing for Peace: Antiwar Songs in American History |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, England |isbn=9781612058078 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vwzvCgAAQBAJ&q=%22the+universal+coward%22+%22jan+berry%22+dean&pg=PA86 |access-date=August 12, 2019}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.songtexte.com/songtext/buffy-sainte-marie/universal-soldier-33cde4c5.html lyrics]
  • [http://donovan-unofficial.com/music/singles/universal_soldier.html Universal Soldier (Single) – Donovan Unofficial Site]
  • [https://americansongwriter.com/buffy-sainte-marie-universal-soldier/ Behind the Song: Buffy Saint-Marie, "Universal Soldier"] Rick Moore

{{Buffy Sainte-Marie}}

{{Donovan}}

{{Glen Campbell}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Songs about soldiers

Category:Songs about the military

Category:1963 songs

Category:Anti-war songs

Category:Donovan songs

Category:Buffy Sainte-Marie songs

Category:Glen Campbell songs

Category:Folk rock songs

Category:Songs written by Buffy Sainte-Marie

Category:1965 singles

Category:The Highwaymen (folk band) songs