Universal Soldier

"Universal Soldier" is a song written and composed by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The first released recording was a single by The Highwaymen, released in September 1963. 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." The idea was based on that politicians, with power over the military, in democratic states are elected by the people. 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. 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: Sainte-Marie sold the publishing rights to the song, but later bought them back for $25,000.