Back in the good old sixties a lot of the music I was listening too had a message. It made you think. It took a political/social stance that was idealistic, optimistic and far reaching.
We were a ‘can do’ generation because we believed we could get involved and make things better. And we did.
It wasn’t easy. But the world changed because of the efforts of that generation. It’s more equal, more tolerant, more colourful and more aware. We forget how stereotyped and drab that intolerant, racist world of the unquestioning fifties really was. It certainly wasn’t moral. It was blinkered, repressed and twee.
Buffy St Marie was exceptional. She was a full-blooded native American Indian. There weren’t too many of them left following the genocide of the previous hundred years.
Buffy sang moving songs about the plight of her people but in this one she is highlighting the futility of war.
This was covered and popularised by Donovan who did a brilliant cover.
The Universal Soldier
He’s 5 foot 2 and he’s 6 feet 4
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17.
He’s been a soldier for a thousand years
He’s a catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist, and a Baptist and Jew.
And he knows he shouldn’t kill
And he knows he always will kill
You’ll 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 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 the blame
His orders comes from
far away no more.
They come from him.
And you and me.
And brothers can’t you see.
This is not the way we put an end to war
Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/buffy-sainte-marie-lyrics-universal-soldier-wmz5kk2#ixzz3PdJnu3cE
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