The Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte-Marie
as recorded by Donovan Leitch
 
 
[N.B. The song is played with two slightly different chord patterns, called
P1 and P2 for convenience. P1 is the pattern used for the first verse of
four lines, and P2 for the second. The third and fourth verses use P1 and P2
respectively, while the fifth and sixth both use P2.]
 
 
      Eb         F           Bb         Gm  
He's five foot two and he's six feet four 
    Eb          F                  Bb
He fights with missiles and with spears
     Eb              F          Bb           Gm                
He's all of thirty one and he's only seventeen 
        Eb                     Cm   F7 
Been a soldier for a thousand years

 
        Eb           F         Bb          Gm
He's a Catholoic, a Hindu,  an athiest, a Jain 
   Eb             F             Bb
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
         Eb                F           Dm              Gm   
And he knows he shouldn't kill and he knows he always will
             Eb                      Cm7  F7
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 U.S.A.
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'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
 
[N.B. The final F7 is not played at the end of the sixth verse - the song
ends on the Cm7] 
 


From Bill Keir