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Universal Soldier Lyrics

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's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jane
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 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

But without him, how would Hitler have condemned him at Liebau?
Without him, Caesar would've 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 and you and me
And brothers, can't you see
This is not the way we put the end to war?
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14 Meanings

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Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

How come no one's mentioned this was written by Buffy St. Marie, a Canadian ..uh.. native canadian, who also wrote "Codeine"?

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

one of the great vietnam protest songs. ranks right up there with feel-like-i'm-fixin'-to-die rag and i ain't marchin' anymore. wo0t.

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

best songtext ever.

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

how r there not more comments

genius

love it

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

these lyrics are sooooooooooo wrong

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

This is an amazing song, but these lyrics are incorrect.

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

buttholes be screwin around them lyrics like blaow

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

I'm surprised that R.E.M. didn't cover a Donovan Song. (I could picture them performing "The War Drags On".)

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

The message of this song is basically: violence cannot be stopped with more violence, it's completely illogical to believe otherwise. Even if one thinks a cause just, like "fighting for one's country," he points out that war is still the wrong way to solve this problem. He seems to continue with: soldiers should stop blindly following orders from commander's far away from the battlefields in cushy offices; army's should be dismantled. And, we should all ban together to find peaceful solutions to out problems.

What a dirty hippy Donovan is.

This song is brilliant and true.

Cover art for Universal Soldier lyrics by Donovan

But in all seriousness, why the hell haven't these lyrics been fixed? It's such an eyesore, it's almost painful to read them. :p