Universal Soldier

Edit: I just discovered that the song was originally written by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Just making sure that I give credit where credit is due.

Last night while riding the subway home, I was listening to some Donovan. And stumbled upon this song that for some reason I'd never heard before. Which really is a crying shame, because it's one of the best anti-war songs I've ever heard.

So this blog entry will simply consist of me posting the lyrics, which I think are remarkably meaningful and not your standard 'oooh, I'm a pop star and I care about war...because baby seals and kittens and puppies and children are cute." This song actually has some depth to it. And even just the lyrics without the tune tear me up a little bit.

He's five foot-two, and he's six feet-four,
He fights with missiles and with spears.
He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen,
He's been a soldier for a thousand years.

He'a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew.
And he knows he shouldn't kill,
And he knows he always will,
Kill you for me my friend and me for you.

And he's fighting for Canada,
He's fighting for France,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Japan,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.

And he's fighting for Democracy,
He's fighting for the Reds,
He says it's for the peace of all.
He's the one who must decide,
Who's to live and who's to die,
And he never sees the writing on the wall.

But without him,
How would Hitler have condemned him at Labau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone,
He's the one who gives his body
As a weapon of the war,
And without him all this killing can't go on.

He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,
His orders come from far away no more,
They come from here and there and you and me,
And brothers can't you see,
This is not the way we put an end to war.