Universal Soldier is an anti-war song written by Canadian musician Buffy Sainte-Marie in 1964. It has been performed and recorded by several artists, including Sainte-Marie herself, though the best-known version was recorded by folk singer Donovan (above) in 1965.

Unlike the majority of anti-war songs, the lyrics of Universal Soldier take aim not at governments or leaders but the ordinary people who support their policies and volunteer for military service. The eponymous ‘universal soldier’ refers to individuals who agree to fight and, in doing so, allow wars to be waged.

Donovan’s version of Universal Soldier reached number five in the British singles chart. It was less successful in the United States, reaching only 53 on the charts. In 1966, pop singer Jan Berry released The Universal Coward, a vicious satire of Donovan’s single that condemned anti-war protestors as “scroungers” and “fanatics”.

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
But 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 could Hitler have condemned them at Dachau?
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, you and me, and brothers can’t you see
This is not the way we put an end to war.

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