(Written by Buffy St. Marie)

(As recorded by Glen Campbell - 1965)



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 Jain

A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew

He knows he shouldn't kill

But he knows he always will

Kill you, my friend, for me and me for you



He's fighting for Canada, he's fighting for France

He's fighting for the USA

He's fighting for the Russians

And he's fighting for Japan

And he thinks he'll put an end to war that way



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

But 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 the 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 brother, can't you see

This is not the way to put an end to war