Universal Soldier

(Writer: Buffy Sainte-Marie)

He's five feet 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
Been a soldier for a thousand years
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
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 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 him, and you, and me and, brothers, can't you see?
This is not the way we put an end to war