I was 17 a soldier and didn't appreciate the words, I'm 74 now and understand them so well they make me weep. It's 2024 and the same people are just as guilty now as they were then and the innocent ones are the universal soldiers.
Thank you sir! No need to weep or feel sorrow for being brave , holding valor and family and US ( THE FREED) in your care SIR. I THANK YOU AND WELCOME YOU HOME! I'm just an Army Brat speaking, still an Army Brat, and I came up with this poem/song for my father. Please listen and please reply(if you feel it necessary) What I wanted as a take-away , would be for your gallantry and stepping forward, while MANY stepped back and mostly for YOUR heart being in the right place irregardless of your work or your deed. You did the right thing, WRONG OR RIGHT ----Your above message is PROOF I needed to hear! (I love Donovan and only know him from My father and now you! While many suffered and others died- I grew up knowing of the brave and the love of country and love of family and in that I HOPE ----That those who went could one day thank US (the FREED ) who did great work while you did yours ------ THANK YOU! .....THANK YOU ! .... WELCOME HOME SIR! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j9ZupocbjIU.html
When you were in Vietnam, my country Portugal, under a severe fascist regime, was also fighting colonial wars in Africa against bushmen and tribalmen armed with soviet AK-47 rifles and AA weapons. My father didn't want to go to Angola to kill "pretos" (niggers), as the regime called the african people, so he allways missed the rifle target shooting, and was punished, during his 3 year recruit. My father allways aimed to the side and missed the target, he didn't want to go to Angola to kill black men. He was punished and could not have any leave during 3 years, he was put on latrine cleaning. I am proud to be the son of a man who prefered to clean shit and be punished, rather than to go to Angola to kill innocent black guys, fighting for their independence. My dad was scared, because it was considered non-patriotic not wanting to go to Africa to kill "niggers". I am ashamed and apologize, in behalf of my country, for the fascist period of Portugal, before I was even born. This powerful american song also relates strongly to the portuguese colonial wars.
Time for one of today's singers to cover this and remind everyone that these endless wars need to stop. Can we please have a brave singer come forth and open some eyes through the ears receiving these lyrics?
This is a great song, and I admire the pure guts of anyone who has had the balls to sing about it over the years, Donovan, Phil Ochs, and Buffy Sainte-Marie (she wrote it). God bless them all.
Why? It’s embarrassing! The lyrics are soo naive it’s cringy. Yeah, let’s “do away with war” by doing away with soldiers! Just absurd. So, whose soldiers are going to refuse to fight first? The West? What do you think World happen if Europe got rid of their armed forces? Ask the Ukraine!
I remember being 16, very idealistic and against the Viet Nam war where my brother and my friends were being drafted to fight in and very terrified. Donovan was so poignant for me. His voice, lyrics, acoustic guitar style and everything about him was genuine. I sang To Try For The Sun every night to my daughter in her crib...now she (at age 16) is performing his songs and is very nostalgic for the 60's
I was very idealistic too, still am, though jaded with all the madness, that seems endless. .... I'm about the same age as you. I was 15 when Donovan's "Universal Soldier" came out, had the 45 rpm. ... And now here we are again, a tyrant causing wars and terror. ~ Where have all the flowers gone? ~ Gone to soldiers every one. When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn ? We wonder where is our God was in the face of so much pain ?" ~ Loreena McKinnett ~ So many folk songs to muddle through with. Peace ...
I am 75 and I am watching the look of awe in the faces. It is as if those words have never been heard and are scary in virtue of the self indictment. Yes we are not a well people. But thank God for Donovan.
Buffy Sainte Marie wrote this song in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in 1963 after witnessing wounded soldiers returning from Vietnam. She has described the song as being "About individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all." Though not a hit for her it was covered by British folk singer Donovan in 1965 on an EP titled The Universal Soldier, which was a success and bought attention to the song. In the US it was released as a single peaking at #53. The song became an anthem of the Vietnam Peace movement. Sainte-Marie naively sold the publishing rights to this song for a dollar to a man she met one night at the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village who wrote a contract on a napkin. She recalled to The Guardian July 31, 2009: "Ten years later I bought it back for 25,000 bucks - the good news is that I had 25,000 bucks."
he means "try the 50s" as the beginning of fighting in Vietnam, since the French had been fighting the independence movement since 1945. However, our troops really started engaging enemy in early 1963 when Kennedy sent 1000 "advisors". All through 1963, troop levels increased until 15000 soldiers were in Vietnam. And so they started getting killed and this was being reported in evening news (before the internet everyone watched the 3 channels of television and got the same news). These were the first fighting soldiers to die since the pre-ceasefire Korean war in 1950-53 (which was still going on, it never ended!!). Lyndon Johnson was elected in fall of 1964 and suddenly escalation to 50000. Overall, about 2.5 MILLION soldiers served within Vietnam borders over 10 year period. Americans lost about 58000 in that conflict. So this song was easily written in 1963 and made famous in 1965 when we were really "in the shit".
A great song and a beautiful version from Donavan! Another great protest song is Eve of Destruction by Barry Mcguire from 1965! Still powerful and revalant today!
I came here to listen tonight because the world is once again teetering on the brink of war, and once again, the young men will bear the brunt of it. We will never learn
I see a lot of people here who know this song in a way most will never know. Just know, I was shown this song while working for a friend that fought in Vietnam at 18-19, and the way he described how impactful this song is will stay with me for life.
Donovan is a great singer and does a great job on Unibersal Soldier but Buffy Sainte-Marie brought tears in my eyes when I heard her sing it. It's Buffy's song and she of course nailed it with her tone, emotion and exceptional singing.
my father played this song for me 2 weeks before he died and 4 days before l was to join the army. not joining was the best choice l ever made. 2 years later the world went to war with iraq and millions of people have been killied or hurt badly and all that was for oil.
Exactly. Every war, nowadays, is just about crude oil and natural gas (together with uranium in western Africa). The B.S. served to the population is : "let's overthrow this ugly dictatorship"...
Brilliant song written by the best aboriginal writer and singer of all time Buffy St.Marie she composed it in the San Francisco Airport watching and speaking to returning wounded soldiers from Viet Nam..❤❤🎉🎉😊😊
There were so many great acoustic guitarist/singer-songwriters from this period. My music has been influenced by artists like Donovan and Dylan, Baez and Mitchell. The very first folk tune I heard live was at four. My babysitter played "Blowing in the Wind" for me on her guitar. I have never forgotten that moment of magic.
I used to worry about singing some of the songs in the 1960's to young toddlers and preschool children. Now I know those tunes were like heaven for them.
You know what they say Thoughs that dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it time & time again. Putin is badly in need of a history lesson remind me Putin how did it all end with The Soviet Union, did it end well, Mr Putin. Israel & Palastinen have we not been down this road before & still they go round & round the same road time & time again. And in Nothern Ireland wee still have Loyalists & Republican's trying to win a war that is never ending. In the U.S.A., we have a race situation that just goes round & and around but never e ends. In Canada Québec that wants Independence but will never get it. In Spain, there is still a fractured country decades after Franco was last in power. The world just revolves, but nothing ever truly gets solved. Food for tought.
Simply a remarkable song that asks difficult questions and proposes controversial conclusions. What else can you ask for-- music meant something back then.
I've attended hundreds of live shows and one of the most memorable ones was on Christmas Eve, 1986, at Harrah's Hotel and Casino at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in the Cabaret. The show was Donovan, a guitar, a microphone, and a straight-back wooden chair. It doesn't get any more basic than that, and it was great.
it all depends on who is running the show... Everything was so much better when Trump had the reins ...but this current diabolical ridiculous Stolen administration of slimy swamp creatures in dc are out of their minds on every topic & bent on destroying America and many other countries too
Lady Light I couldn’t disagree with you more. You like presidents’ who get us into wars? Sounds like you believe all the bullshit your guy told all Americans. It’s awful to know that you and your fellow crazies are drawn to an ignorant, poorly educated, pathological liar, who would do anything to someone who crossed him. Too many Americans agree with you, hence our weakened status in the world.
In my opinion "The universal Soldier" is the most impressive anti-war-song I've heard so far! Thank you Donovan...I'm a great fan for more than 40 years now...
I was 13 years old when this song was recorded. I completely understood what it represented at that time. This song started me on my way to being a peacenik
One of the most beautiful live performances, that I've ever attended, was on Christmas Eve, 1986. It was Donovan, his guitar, a microphone, and a chair. It was a magnificent performance and, for me, this song was the high-light of the show.
I love Donovan, I love USA, I am Australian. Even my son was a soldier in Australian army, but Australia is always a peace keeping nation, we are renowned for that, the world should listen to Australia, we have learnt from the previous world wars, war is not the way, understanding the reality is
I remember a week ago or so I read the song in a songbook and was curious to listen to it, found it on yt and it stayed in my mind. Now with the whole Ukraine-Thing I've been reminded that this song still ist very much up to date. At the end of the day its the solider that obeys to whoever gives the order.
brings back a lot of memories. this song was instrumental in turning me against participation in the military.... when I was in the USAF in the sixties. Poetry, song and other art can speak a lot louder than debate at times.
This song is timeless....sadly! Nothing changes. I think each generation in its youth is idealistic, thinking they are going to change the world and rid the planet of war. If it only it could really happen.
"we cannot live in a world in which wars doesn't exist." That's comforting, BB. So what you're saying is mankind is incapable of living in peace, that he is inherently warlike and has to dominate his environment. I don't believe it has to be like that at all. And that's what Donovan is saying as well.
A great tune from an unforgettable singer and composer and good guitar player. Although being a Buffy St Marie 's song, it's the Donovan cool interpretation that got the fame, think. 💙🆗👍🏻✔️
i have said it before how good is Donavon, great singer, lyrisist and obviously a decent man, I love ability to make me feel that i can be a better man. God bless him
Everyone wants their own Donovan especially after seeing him in the documentary with bob Dylan such a real gentle man and amazing musician. When you see Donovan sing I’ll sing a song for you - it’s so heartwarming
I'm having the first time hearing the song my brother was over in Vietnam he was stationed in Phuket that song and an awful lot of meaning for me takes me back to when he was in nam used to send taped back and forth I need listening to tapes from him and all of a sudden you hear bombs going off he just kind of take a deep breath and pray him and his Pals were never hurt
Donnovan war in den 70-gern ein frühes Idol von mir. Ich finde seine Melodien und seinen Gitarrenstyle mit seinen eingängigen Akkorden auch heute noch toll.
The lyric, 'the universal soldier, he really is to blame..' made young guys like me who were drafted and came back to an ugly 'welcome' feel like we did something wrong. Being called a 'baby killer' by those who did not go was bad enough. We called it 'the screwing you get for the screwing you got.'
Donovan was hugely underrated and I remember a Dylan documentary where he is in awe of Dylan while Dylan treats him like a nobody. A great voice and sadly he grew up at a time when there were so many great singer musicians. Nowadays there is so little talent around that a middle of the road singer without a message like Ed Sheeran can become a "superstar". I have always loved that change of rhythm just before the end.
Not sure he treated him like a nobody but he wasn't in great form. I was amused that when Bob was being praised as the better songwriter and then asked someone about Donovan's guitar playing, the response was something like "no he's got you covered".
With the stunned look on the audience's faces I don't think they heard THIS song before & found its words very thought provoking! In THIS SHORT SONG was their current situation summed up COMPLETELY!!! I'm sure the war mongers hated it for THAT reason.
I think when you consider where we are in history and how fragile we and the planet we live on is. Then you think about the fact that we as Human beings have learned nothing from are mistakes and that's pretty clear just look how fast we turn to conflict and war. Its is depressing, we seem to have more songs written today glorifying nationalism and war , the great protest songs of the past are forgotten.
its fucking depressing that so many people still seem to glorify radical ideas, violence and war as if there was any glory in it and not just horror and pain.
What memories Donovan brings back to America's Seniors/Elderly that were drafted into an unpopular war during the Nam era. So many of my friends, on leave, came to watch him in concert in SoCal as he obviously appeared to be a man at odds with himself on which 'religion' he should follow, as were some members of The Beatles. This led to fights about which 'religion' leads to God. Obviously, Bible-based Christians believe Jesus is the only 'way.' What I recall is that my friends, although not wearing their uniforms, were obviously in the military service as their heads were shorn. They stood out, to say the least. All the 'long-haired' hippies spat on them, including the BLM (fka Black Panthers) and the other 'radicals' of that era. I can still 'see' Donovan as he went 'commando' in his attire at that concert, sitting cross-legged and wearing a gauzy and revealing white cotton ensemble that, when he stood up, the audience giggled because ...uhh, uhh. well, because. Fast forward and, sadly, there would be no way I would ever take children/grandchildren to that very same area as it is rife with crime, illegals/undocumented, Janes, Sikhs, Atheists and so on and so forth along with other..filth. So much for Peace, Love and Understanding. Hope Donovan grew up to be a man!
much respect to you and all who served. thank you for your service to the country and the people. i also lived through that time as someone who was against the war but i am not resentful of those who served. this is supposed to be a free country and you have every right to speak your mind. just as it was during the vietnam war, many americans would blame the soldiers who fought rather than the politicians who sent them to fight. peace.
I first heard this song as a youth, it was cool but I didn't understand it; I went to war and now I understand it, and if I'd understood it before I went to war, I would never have gone. Leo Yolstoy was right too; when a soldier pulls the trigger and kills another soldier it is an unspoken form of murder, he pulled the trigger, he is responsible, and his orders come from far away no more.
Soldiers obey to what their commanders obey... It is not different to be a bodyguard or a policeman. So, whatever your job, serve justice first, and before everything, justice for those who never received justice. Every charity b-e-g-i-n-s through JUSTICE. Thank you, dear Donovan, for having so sincerely asked this question.
On this day in 1965 {September 19th} two covered versions of Buffy Sainte Marie's "The Universal Soldier" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; Donovan at position #84 and Glen Campbell at #90... Both versions stayed on the Top 100 for seven weeks; and both versions also peaked on the same day, October 24th 1965, Glen Campbell at #45 {for 1 week} while Donovan reached #53 {also for 1 week}... May God bless and watch over Mr. Campbell...
In 1971 I joined the Army when I was 17 to avoid being drafted the next year. I did not know the draft would end just before my turn would come up. As I sat in the recruiters office with a bunch of sargents signing my recruitment papers, this song came on the radio. Awkward.
Amen Mussman717 Where are the troubidors who sing not for money or fame but from the heart , to sing the truth and wake up a nation hooked on the drug of war? We need you now.
this man is a pioneer for truth through the medium of pop music! he knew shit was goin on in the world that the masses werent aware of.. he could see the orwellian state beginning to step forth! the baton has now been passed to the likes of tim minchin!
It's true that you and me don't decide if our country goes to war. Governments do. But the 60s was an important era in establishing the principle that the people can get involved in resistance and protest and thereby place constraints on state violence, and its interesting to note that this song and other anti-war songs had access to mainstream audiences then, It simply doesn't happen anymore.
watched him on the Lloyd Thaxton show and the kids in the audience were all crying at the end, Soon I would be in viet nam and believe me I was cryin as well!
When this song came out I was 13 years old. At 14, I learned to play it on my guitar. Somehow I taught myself to fingerpick it (my 1st time to fingerpick anything). I grew older & found myself protesting the Viet Nam War, yet eventually joined the US Navy to avoid being drafted. I spent 26 years in the Navy and have no regrets. Surprisingly, to this day, this song along with Kendrew Lascelles' poem, "The Box", are the two things that make me believe that war, although inevitable, is wrong!
