Donovan
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Donovan
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Donovan
The song is about the similarities between soldiers of all times and in all places. It also condemns soldiers for their roles in supporting oppressive regimes and killing other people. It is also about how we have always fought with each other.
[Verse 1]
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
[Verse 2]
He's 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
[Verse 3]
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
[Verse 4]
And he's fighting for democracy, he's fighting for the reds
He says it's for the peace of us 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
[Verse 5]
But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Libau?
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 killin' can't go on
[Verse 6]
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 the end to war?
Universal Soldier was written by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Universal Soldier was produced by Terry Kennedy & Geoff Stephens & Peter Eden.
Donovan released Universal Soldier on Fri Aug 13 1965.