I'm 36, I revive this song all the time. I keep on trying to bring back the 1960's political folk revolution. We need one of those today. Barry McGuire, Buffy, Pete Seeger, Joan Biaz, Phil Ochs I want that kinda of intellectual story telling in my music, always have. I have found a couple modern artist that are good, but the 1960's folk era was more then artist releasing music, they were a revolution.
I grew up hearing Donovan's version. I heard one of Buffy's years ago, and preferred Donovan's version. Until I heard this live version. Such passion in her singing, it won me over. Great to hear how the song came about, as well.
When I was a young Army lieutenant in Germany, a neighbor sang this song to (or at) me about the first day we met. About a year and a half later, I met the woman I would marry...and one of the first things she did was also to sing this song to me. It was 1990, and until my tour in Germany I'd honestly never heard the song before. I served 28 years in the Army, deployed twice, retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, and now I teach Army ROTC at a university. I'm still married to that cute German pacifist who sang this song to me...and I still like and admire the song. It has a point. At least in a genuine Republic, we the people decide (or should decide) how many soldiers we have, what they do, how much we spend on war, and when and where we execute the violence we're trained for. Most people, I think, just let it go on past them and never give it much thought.
Who's pointing a finger at Russia and Putin? First point it at yourself if you supported any US interventions. Invasion of a sovereign country is a war crime and Russia is guilty. The US is equally guilty. Don't be a hypocrite. Support a negotiated peace. Russia will cooperate with a fair settlement. This war hurts Russia also. Contact Reps and Senators and Biden and demand a settlement - atonement for your participation. And don't believe that Biden can't bring about an agreement. That's a lie. End the killing and a possible nuclear war. It almost happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were about to invade Cuba but Russia brokered an agreement. Did Cuba have a right to arm itself? We didn't think so! NATO has been arming the Ukraine for years - while not declaring it a NATO member. And yes, Russia noticed. We had been warned for years that this war was coming if NATO and the US continued down that road. "To understand is not to condone"...Russia's invasion. Your responsibility is to help end the war.
@@0150Tricia Wow, you went off topic right away, eh? Anyway, Putin was perfectly happy with Ukraine as long as it had a pro-Putin dictator in Kyiv. He got uppity when the people of Ukraine (you may have heard of them?) overthrew the dictator...he's been sending his soldiers into Ukraine ever since (the "separatist movement" is a thin disguise for direct Russian intervention, always has been). I would think the people of Ukraine have the right to decide if there is an "accommodation" with Russia or not. If we were invaded by someone else, would you push for "accommodation"?
“I love your music and spirit, Buffy, and agree that everyone needs to take some responsibility for wars, but you need to balance your focus on the soldiers’ responsibilities for executing the war with the terrible push back and disproportionate condemnation that Vietnam vets received. Most of the soldiers during the Vietnam war were drafted and perhaps did not think that draft dodging was a real option for them. I think that the Rolling Stones said it best in their song “Sympathy For the Devil”: “I shouted out who killed the Kennedys (?) when after all you know it was you and me.” Ironically, the conclusion of your sing is the same as The Rolling Stones’.
@@dcsole54 Not disagreeing with your point itself, I think basically you're right - just to point out as points of fact, though, that only 38% of those drafted during the war went to Vietnam, the rest backfilled units elsewhere so that professional soldiers could be sent instead. Of those in combat units in Vietnam, 70% were volunteers. (W. Hays Parks. "Statistics Versus Actuality in Vietnam." Air University Review, vol. 32, no. 4, May-June 1981, p. 86)
I would hope this song, or SOMETHING! -would get more of us to check out more than one, (or 2 or 3!) sides of a story before we kill, or help kill people. Too many of us are "good Germans", "just following orders", just going along... I wanted to fight in Vietnam when I was in high school, but had enough of an open mind to look at "The ABC's of Vietnam", a historical summary from the Quakers. Turned me around 180. Since then, I've had my antennae up, looking for the lies in every war they sell us, and yes, they are all based on lies, economics, greed. And our corporate media seem to do a slicker job each time they sell a new war. (War is a Racket, by Smedley Butler, USMC.) I was a bit dismayed to see you're teaching ROTC, but I don't know you, and I wound up taking a job for a while making cruise missiles, because I couldn't find anything else! Mixed feelings! How would we answer at a Nuremberg trial? A buddy of mine, his platoon just emptied their clips into the trees, non-aggressive. Local NLF left them a message in a bar: You don't mess with us, we won't mess with you. Local truce, cool! I think we need more of that, so we don't go to the mushroom clouds!
I heard Donovan do this as a pre-Vietnam youth, about 16, then I went off to that war, and now I listen to Buffy sing it and it feels like she's singing it right to me now. The song never stops happening because there's always a war somewhere. I say, "If the mind is a vast universe, think of the heavens lost in war."
I am a big huge fan of Buffy Sainte-Marie. I read her biography with the intro with the one and only,Joni Mitchell. My Auntie saw Buffy last November 2021. She said Buffy never sounded better. Love from a fellow Ontario Canadian. 🇨🇦❤🙏🕊
Millions of us loved this nearly forgotten song, but here the songwriter lays bare the universal truth that drove her to write one of the truly great songs. Hallelujah .
Buffy St. Marie graduated from the same high school I did (Wakefield MA). I had no idea she wrote this song, as the first rendition I heard was by Glen Campbell, but it made a big impression on me, and was one of the reasons I refused induction into the service when drafted during the Vietnam War.
I saw Buffy Ste. Marie perform years ago, and it was an earth-moving experience. Her words and melodies, and her powerful vibrato voice, combined to make such an incredibly moving experience. In one of her songs, she named off lists of suffering Indian tribes, and she had an endless supply of names that she adjusted according to most recent injustices. "The Universal Soldier" came out during the Vietnam war, and no other antiwar anthem was quite as powerful as this one.
Love this song. Went to an outdoor concert in '68. Found myself walking along a path leading to the stage and realized B S-M was walking right next to me.
I heard her sing Universal Soldier at an Indian Pow Wow about 10 years ago in Santa Fe. Veterans, children and their parents were standing on their chairs and singing. She rocked the house.
I was born in 1955, so I have heard this song many times before, but I just listened to it again, and it gave me little shivers ! I am looking forward to seeing Buffy in live concert next week !
I got goosebumps too. Very timely still today unfortunately. I agree with what she said in her intro, that we are all responsible. We elect the politicians who send these boys to war. However, I guess she has a point, if nobody went then there wouldn't be a war. But a lot of kids then and now enlist to get a free higher education. Again, the right politicians would make higher education free; end of that problem and many others!
Hello there! How is everyone doing now?I can't believe you're comments are from so long again.pirjo how was the concert?2007 you are just now 15? Goosebumps What do you think about the condition of the world now?I hope you are all doing well and I pray we are delivered from this evil regime. 🇺🇸🕊️🙋🏻♀️
Thank you. The right song for the war in Gaza. Each soldier on both sides is to blame this will never end. Every murder on both sides will create more soldiers and more murders. Let us pray for peace soon ☮🙏
This song has been a part of my life for.... more decades than I'd like to admit to. It's a persistent reminder to me that "the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill toward men."
Buffy is an awesome woman. She speaks for her people and other things(protests etc). I love her singing and what she stands for. She reminds me of another favorite of mine Joan Baez. Read both of their biographies both excellent reads. Love and Prayers from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦🙏🕊
Agree, also from Ontario. She was also a great representation for woman, for mothers, for peace, for accountability for all those taking a risk to making positive changes for all not just musicians and not just for First Nations. No matter that she was stolen and given to an American family, she will always be Canadian to us. She will always be a great representation of Canada ling before Celine', Shania, Ryan Reynolds and all those that were blessed to have such a roll model and path to follow.
@kimkochel Buffy St Marie is a very talented American singer who is known fraudster who conned people into thinking she is a Canadian and an Aboriginal
I gave it five stars because that's all there were. I'd have preferred more. There's nothing like hearing the writer do what is in my humble opinion, the greatest "protest song" ever. Thanks for posting this!
As a veteran I have to say this an awesome video using profound real images exquisitely attended by a very dramatic score. Given the sacred nature of her poem and song, we might be inclined not to touch or change its' purity and rebuke those who have. On the contray, I believe it is the expansion of ideas, tolerance, and empathy that enables her passionate plea & I think Buffy would be truly pleased that her words have been so provocatively transformed.
without a doubt,the most amazing miss Buffy Sainte-Marie,and without a shred of a doubt,one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written. If she never did another thing,that one song made her one of the great cultural icons of our time
I'm commenting on behalf of my husband (Vietnam vet). "Without soldiers you can't have war, but then again freedom has a price, singing songs of freedom has a price, who pays the price for freedom? Soldiers." That's is all he had to say..he walked off with tears in his eyes. Personally I think Buffy has a lot to say, but so does my husband. He hates war, he didn't go to Nam because he wanted to. He earned three Purples and is disabled because of it. I am torn, but will stand by him.
Me too I've heard this song many times by Donovan ,I always thought it was Donovan that wrote it. I love Buffy and all she stands for. This has made me so emotional.
Same. I listen to this a couple times a year and my reaction ranges from tears to full on crying. She cuts perfectly to the universal core of the issue, and the dissonant ending drives it home.
Love Buffy. Saw her perform in Melbourne Australia in 2015 for the first time and met her and the band after the show. She was so lovely and so beautiful. I have the greatest respect for her for everything that she has done and continues to do. A wonderful teacher.
Thank you for this clip. I was a child during the Vietnam War, it ended when I was a teenager.....this was one of my favorite folk songs. Unfortunetly we are in a war again, it seems like it will never end. Peace!!!
I am a Chippewa warrior from the Viet Nam war. I earned two feathers assigned to the First Special Forces, hand grenade fragments, one bullet, PTSD, and Agent Orange problems. We were programmed for war by our history. The need to become a Warrior. It is sad, but true. No one thinks it will ever happen to him and now her. We need to put our minds and train our children towards peace. My daughter asked about the Army, and I said, "Look at me. Do you want to become like this?" Fred Jack
I’ve always loved Buffy & this song means as much today as it did when she first wrote it. We really do need to put an end to wars. Before we all get blown away
Buffy, you still all these years later bring a tear to my eye with this song. I wore out 2 vinyl records listening before my time to refuse induction into the army came. So glad I got to tell you this a few years ago. Thank you! for the TRUTH ....
One of the finest songs ever written and always will be, as there's not a day goes by without some monster planning a war, an invasion, an ethnic cleansing or a massacre.
I just finished watching a PBS documentary on Buffy St Marie I'm 44 years old a lover of music of all kinds American of Mexican descent my father is as white as any Spaniard and my mother is as brown and beautiful as any indigenous native woman but I have always been more proud more closer to my brown skin and the culture that I have inherited from my mother my point is I have became a new fan after watching this documentary and I will go out and buy every album that she has release of this amazing legendary iconic woman Buffy St Marie I also never got to meet my uncle Julian Rivera who died in the Vietnam War at the age of 18
Great upload, thanks for sharing! And congrats to Buffy as she receives the Lifetime Contribution to Aboriginal Music honour tonight at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. Just another well deserved award for Canada's conscience.
A beautiful song, a beautiful soul. It doesn't matter who did what or when or to whom. We keep on doing it - that's the problem! We have forgotten, as individuals, how to live with the world. We have never known, as humans, how to live together.
The war song to end all wars. Will they listen for onces. Passion is the strongest weapon against stupidity of killings. Please keep sing for us, wonderful woman
I tried to explain to my brother returning from the Navy in the mid-late 1960's why I liked this song. Turns out from the narration here, I was right about it. The Universal Soldier she sang of was hired by you and me, the sleeping majority who doesn't even realize that it is their sentiments about war or their silence that keep it returning again and again. And now that the huge money powers find it so profitable, it seems to presently be unable to leave the scene with either victory or defeat.
I'm with you brother..my father died from wounds he got in that stupid war. And i spent my younger years fighting against it. Never ends as you say. Respect to you and your brothers!
Well said Buffy, your commentary at the beginning of the video gave me goosebumps-I've always loved that song but to see you sing it live leaves me breathless. Saskia
SHe sings from the true heart and it resonates with those who can hear and disturbs those who can't. Buiffy and Joan and Pete and Bob and Phil and many others woke up a nation. Where are the troubidors of today who sing not for the money or the fame but from the heart to wake up a nation hooked on the drug of war?
Buffy needs to update this song. The US soldier/marine is from the lower middle-class families, the lower-class, and the rural boys from the small towns and farms. The universal soldier is not the upper-class nor the upper middle class. They're too important to serve. If I sound bitter, I am. I was a marine because I came from a farm. I my little area of two small towns and farms there were approximately 30 young men of draft age during Vietnam. Two didn't serve because they had glasses that looked like the bottom of coke bottles. The other one was Daddy's Little farmer and Daddy did something to keep him out of the draft. Two died over their and two killed themselves shortly after getting home. The first thing I did when I got home was get rid of all my guns. The second thing I did was get rid of any US flags that I had. Patriotism is nothing more than getting the lower classes to fight for the upper classes. USMC 1969-1971
Thank you for this remarkable post Robert. I can hear your anguish in every line, the injustice that was done to you and the other working class kids who were in intolerable situations in these rich people wars. God bless you brother, I hope you have peace and joy in your life. You are an inspiration.
Wacek4444--It was my pleasure to share this story. I am delighted that you have discovered Buffy's music. Her songs carry such a wide range of deep feelings, and truly come from a heart that is true to itself. Buffy, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan have had a great influence on my own poetry, songwriting and performing. I agree with you about all the crap that gets passed off as music these days. As Joni put it so well, the music business has become a cesspool.
The first time i heard this song, i think was my senior summer, just out of high school. It absolutely floored me and was my introduction to this artist. I was drafted 18 months later. I was in the army hospital in seoul when the vietnam war officially ended. I havent heard this song in atleast 30 years, and is still very moving for me. Hey carljj, lighten up a bit, and you too musik, we know it was a war, the kid just means it was never a declared war. thanks for the post and the memory.
I first saw Buffy Ste Marie at the Ash Grove on Melrose Blve in Los Angeles, with friend and cultural entrepreneur Carrol Peery (Minnesota, L.A., Berkeley), together with the Chambers Brothers. I could remember what she wore! Saw her many times, followed her career and she remains our families favorite. Love her 'Welcome, Welcome Immigrante', but then too, I love them all. Daughter ween on the Buffy songbooks, also sings these as part of her repertoire. Wonderful Buffy Ste. Marie! So worthy of her recent award that pays back for her decades of contributions.
i agree with u soooo much, i have often said the very same thing.."all that it takes for evil to take over is for the good people to do nothing" just make sure ur on the side of the truly good people
FILMING EYES The lens, eyes that see. Mirrors in our minds an illusion, reflects a reality. Maybe a rare, perhaps, only of the few. Filming the life, life. Perhaps to a reality, among distant stars. We know that we know nothing. So maybe, however, just a film, from life filming eyes, ask no more, Universal soldier. Love you Buffy and what privilege to live on this blue planet with you.
@mightymissk Brother you are so right on in what you said. My father fought in numerous battles in the South Pacific in WW2, but when I refused induction into the service during Vietnam, he respected my decision, because he knew it wasn't made out of cowardice but was out of conscience and principals, and in my heart it was the only decision I could live with. I appreciate that there are at least some people who respect that, even if they don't agree.
At the height of the Viet Nam war, a small group of students and professors at my university met to develop a strategy to protest this vile, undeclared war in a non-violent, peaceful way. Everyone was frightened. Names were being put on enemy lists, etc etc. I asked them all if I could sing a song for them. Guess what I sang. When I finished the last verses of "Universal Soldier", a professor whispered to me--"My God, you could lead them anywhere with that." "Thank Buffy, not me," I replied.
Thanks for this interview because it sheds light on how she wrote this antiwar classic in ***1962***, when there wasn't any visible antiwar movement. That was even before JFK was assassinated! And well before LBJ started the escalations that sparked the antiwar movement. She says that, at the time, they were denying that there even was a war in Vietnam that the US was involved in -- JFK was only sending "advisers," and while some people were claiming that the "advisers" were involved in the fighting, the JFK administration was all "no, no, no, there are only a few American advisers there." This song (like Buffy's early coffeehouse career) doesn't come from the hippie era, it comes from the Beat era. (She actually makes this point in a coded way: that "caffeine was the drug.") The world was very different by 1968, your pictures don't quite match the time she was talking about, but that is fine, I just wanted people to appreciate her prescience. This song didn't come out of the antiwar movement era but well before that. Not to mention the prescience of her songs like "Buffalo's Gone" and "My Country Tis of Thy People You're Dying" years before AIM. And because she has shown herself to be so brilliantly prescient in the past, I am paying attention to her recent interviews in which she talks about how she sees the future. Thanks, this is a great glimpse into history. I can't tell you how much I have loved Buffy for almost fifty years!
Thank You Buffy, this can help some to understand that Each of share in the responsibility of war. I consider this to be 1 of THE most important messages of ALL times. When we allow war (in our heart, our home, or our nation) we are doing the same as saying it's justified, it's OK, The solders are only a part of this. We Are All responsible and we must all declare PEACE. We can stop harm but only with Love, the intent must be to stop the harm with as little harm as possible. Love & Peace to All
Such a sensitive child; watching hearses pass by and I would stop right there and not walk another step, until the procession passed. Thinking about it all; the family, their loved one. I think of my sister, that did not live to see adulthood due to violence. Still I do not have 'the' answer. But now I see Love, building bridges. Kindness. No matter what critics say, we are doing it. Friends reaching out to each other all around the world. WOW!
always she brings tears to me.i also listening to her since in utero...i got given her songbook the other day with so many of her songs...i been searching for it all my life
My best friend was training as a B-52 pilot at March Air Force Base in 1970. He and 6 other pilots made a moral decision and informed their commander that they had decided that they could not drop bombs on the Vietnamese. Freak out. The CO said to my friend, who was Hispanic, "Roberto, I just don't understand this, I thought that you were a "good" Mexican. At first, they threatened to put them in prison for fraud, but then, quietly let them resign. This never made the news. Aloha from Kauai.
That Is Inspiring. Such Integrity, In the Face Of Corruption, From The Top Down. "For Evil To Triumph, All It Takes Is "Good Folks" , To Stand By And To Nothing. Those General's Lied, And Thousands Died. I Was Born In 1963. My Mother Was Stollen Too. I Grew Up In "The System". Thank You Buffy, For Making The Dot's Really Red, Really Big ,And Really Close Together... So Our Hearts, Minds And Spirits, Could Resonate With This Truth. Miigweech. From Uncieded Algonquin/Anishinabe, Territory. Ottawa.
It's amazing, that the themes war and peace are causing always the biggest and longest discussions here on youtube as well as everywhere else.... A good mirror for us to see where we are standing.
Thank you Buffy. I served on the front lines in Vietnam and I wish someone would revive this song today.
John, search First Aid Kit - Universal Soldier :)
Thank you for your service
I'm 36, I revive this song all the time. I keep on trying to bring back the 1960's political folk revolution. We need one of those today. Barry McGuire, Buffy, Pete Seeger, Joan Biaz, Phil Ochs I want that kinda of intellectual story telling in my music, always have. I have found a couple modern artist that are good, but the 1960's folk era was more then artist releasing music, they were a revolution.
Thanks John for your service.
@@1timeuser0904 watch kayla mccalla n dhobet gnahore on yt.
I grew up hearing Donovan's version. I heard one of Buffy's years ago, and preferred Donovan's version. Until I heard this live version. Such passion in her singing, it won me over. Great to hear how the song came about, as well.
When I was a young Army lieutenant in Germany, a neighbor sang this song to (or at) me about the first day we met. About a year and a half later, I met the woman I would marry...and one of the first things she did was also to sing this song to me. It was 1990, and until my tour in Germany I'd honestly never heard the song before.
I served 28 years in the Army, deployed twice, retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, and now I teach Army ROTC at a university. I'm still married to that cute German pacifist who sang this song to me...and I still like and admire the song. It has a point. At least in a genuine Republic, we the people decide (or should decide) how many soldiers we have, what they do, how much we spend on war, and when and where we execute the violence we're trained for. Most people, I think, just let it go on past them and never give it much thought.
Who's pointing a finger at Russia and Putin? First point it at yourself if you supported any US interventions.
Invasion of a sovereign country is a war crime and Russia is guilty. The US is equally guilty. Don't be a hypocrite. Support a negotiated peace. Russia will cooperate with a fair settlement. This war hurts Russia also. Contact Reps and Senators and Biden and demand a settlement - atonement for your participation. And don't believe that Biden can't bring about an agreement. That's a lie. End the killing and a possible nuclear war. It almost happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were about to invade Cuba but Russia brokered an agreement. Did Cuba have a right to arm itself? We didn't think so! NATO has been arming the Ukraine for years - while not declaring it a NATO member. And yes, Russia noticed. We had been warned for years that this war was coming if NATO and the US continued down that road. "To understand is not to condone"...Russia's invasion.
Your responsibility is to help end the war.
@@0150Tricia Wow, you went off topic right away, eh? Anyway, Putin was perfectly happy with Ukraine as long as it had a pro-Putin dictator in Kyiv. He got uppity when the people of Ukraine (you may have heard of them?) overthrew the dictator...he's been sending his soldiers into Ukraine ever since (the "separatist movement" is a thin disguise for direct Russian intervention, always has been). I would think the people of Ukraine have the right to decide if there is an "accommodation" with Russia or not. If we were invaded by someone else, would you push for "accommodation"?
“I love your music and spirit, Buffy, and agree that everyone needs to take some responsibility for wars, but you need to balance your focus on the soldiers’ responsibilities for executing the war with the terrible push back and disproportionate condemnation that Vietnam vets received. Most of the soldiers during the Vietnam war were drafted and perhaps did not think that draft dodging was a real option for them. I think that the Rolling Stones said it best in their song “Sympathy For the Devil”: “I shouted out who killed the Kennedys (?) when after all you know it was you and me.” Ironically, the conclusion of your sing is the same as The Rolling Stones’.
@@dcsole54 Not disagreeing with your point itself, I think basically you're right - just to point out as points of fact, though, that only 38% of those drafted during the war went to Vietnam, the rest backfilled units elsewhere so that professional soldiers could be sent instead. Of those in combat units in Vietnam, 70% were volunteers. (W. Hays Parks. "Statistics Versus Actuality in Vietnam." Air University Review, vol. 32, no. 4, May-June 1981, p. 86)
I would hope this song, or SOMETHING!
-would get more of us to check out more than one, (or 2 or 3!) sides of a story before we kill, or help kill people.
Too many of us are "good Germans", "just following orders", just going along...
I wanted to fight in Vietnam when I was in high school, but had enough of an open mind to look at "The ABC's of Vietnam", a historical summary from the Quakers. Turned me around 180.
Since then, I've had my antennae up, looking for the lies in every war they sell us, and yes, they are all based on lies, economics, greed.
And our corporate media seem to do a slicker job each time they sell a new war. (War is a Racket, by Smedley Butler, USMC.)
I was a bit dismayed to see you're teaching ROTC, but I don't know you, and I wound up taking a job for a while
making cruise missiles, because I couldn't find anything else! Mixed feelings!
How would we answer at a Nuremberg trial?
A buddy of mine, his platoon just emptied their clips into the trees, non-aggressive.
Local NLF left them a message in a bar: You don't mess with us, we won't mess with you. Local truce, cool!
I think we need more of that, so we don't go to the mushroom clouds!
Brilliant song. As relevant today as it was in the 1960s when it was written. We need more of these.
I heard Donovan do this as a pre-Vietnam youth, about 16, then I went off to that war, and now I listen to Buffy sing it and it feels like she's singing it right to me now. The song never stops happening because there's always a war somewhere.
I say, "If the mind is a vast universe, think of the heavens lost in war."
Evidently the BBC wouldnt play the song during the Vietnam war.
one of the greatest songs ever written
Yes ,yes, yes.
Proud to call you family auntie Buffy. I love you. Miss seeing you and Cody often.
This song never gets old a true classic.
Buffy is the epitome of what a human being is when they are true to themselves and all that is. Love her.
The world needs PEACE not WAR ! This is a wonderful song performed by a wonderful artist.
I am a big huge fan of Buffy Sainte-Marie. I read her biography with the intro with the one and only,Joni Mitchell. My Auntie saw Buffy last November 2021. She said Buffy never sounded better. Love from a fellow Ontario Canadian. 🇨🇦❤🙏🕊
Millions of us loved this nearly forgotten song, but here the songwriter lays bare the universal truth that drove her to write one of the truly great songs. Hallelujah .
Buffy St. Marie graduated from the same high school I did (Wakefield MA). I had no idea she wrote this song, as the first rendition I heard was by Glen Campbell, but it made a big impression on me, and was one of the reasons I refused induction into the service when drafted during the Vietnam War.
Good. I hope things went well for you. Years have passed for all of us.
I saw Buffy Ste. Marie perform years ago, and it was an earth-moving experience. Her words and melodies, and her powerful vibrato voice, combined to make such an incredibly moving experience. In one of her songs, she named off lists of suffering Indian tribes, and she had an endless supply of names that she adjusted according to most recent injustices. "The Universal Soldier" came out during the Vietnam war, and no other antiwar anthem was quite as powerful as this one.
I am so grateful that I refused induction in 1968. A decision I have never regretted.
Love this song. Went to an outdoor concert in '68. Found myself walking along a path leading to the stage and realized B S-M was walking right next to me.
I heard her sing Universal Soldier at an Indian Pow Wow about 10 years ago in Santa Fe. Veterans, children and their parents were standing on their chairs and singing. She rocked the house.
I was born in 1955, so I have heard this song many times before, but I just listened to it again, and it gave me little shivers ! I am looking forward to seeing Buffy in live concert next week !
I got goosebumps too. Very timely still today unfortunately. I agree with what she said in her intro, that we are all responsible. We elect the politicians who send these boys to war. However, I guess she has a point, if nobody went then there wouldn't be a war. But a lot of kids then and now enlist to get a free higher education. Again, the right politicians would make higher education free; end of that problem and many others!
I was born in 2007. I also get shivers because Buffy is speaking about the dark truth that most people aren't ready for.
Hello there! How is everyone doing now?I can't believe you're comments are from so long again.pirjo how was the concert?2007 you are just now 15? Goosebumps What do you think about the condition of the world now?I hope you are all doing well and I pray we are delivered from this evil regime. 🇺🇸🕊️🙋🏻♀️
Long live Buffy Sainte-Marie!
Thank you Buffy for reminding all of us that we must each take responsibility for our own.
Never heard of her until I listened to a BBC show, what an amazing woman and life.
Thank you. The right song for the war in Gaza. Each soldier on both sides is to blame this will never end. Every murder on both sides will create more soldiers and more murders. Let us pray for peace soon ☮🙏
Donovan couldn't have sung it with more heart & truth.This timeless song says so much.Personal responsibility.
His phrasing is smoother, but Buffys has a bit more passion. We still dont know what Libau was though?
Libau? I don't know either. I substitute Dachau.
And the US has been at war 93% of our time! We need to do better!
This song has been a part of my life for.... more decades than I'd like to admit to. It's a persistent reminder to me that "the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill toward men."
I worked in MOSUL IN 1980S.
NOW USA WTECKED IT.
Totally relevant today. No soldiers no war.
This song needs to be livestreamed across the world at the same time. Everyone needs to hear this message.
So much. So so much. Breaks my heart. Never heard her sing it. The fighting needs to end.
Buffy is an awesome woman. She speaks for her people and other things(protests etc). I love her singing and what she stands for. She reminds me of another favorite of mine Joan Baez. Read both of their biographies both excellent reads. Love and Prayers from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦🙏🕊
Agree, also from Ontario. She was also a great representation for woman, for mothers, for peace, for accountability for all those taking a risk to making positive changes for all not just musicians and not just for First Nations. No matter that she was stolen and given to an American family, she will always be Canadian to us. She will always be a great representation of Canada ling before Celine', Shania, Ryan Reynolds and all those that were blessed to have such a roll model and path to follow.
@kimkochel
Buffy St Marie is a very talented American singer who is known fraudster who conned people into thinking she is a Canadian and an Aboriginal
An amazing woman and singer, she sings from the heart.
I gave it five stars because that's all there were. I'd have preferred more. There's nothing like hearing the writer do what is in my humble opinion, the greatest "protest song" ever. Thanks for posting this!
This song needs to be revived because of all the current wars being fought in our world.
And today I play this as my heart breaks watching Ukraine. Sending so much love to you all
As a veteran I have to say this an awesome video using profound real images exquisitely attended by a very dramatic score. Given the sacred nature of her poem and song, we might be inclined not to touch or change its' purity and rebuke those who have. On the contray, I believe it is the expansion of ideas, tolerance, and empathy that enables her passionate plea & I think Buffy would be truly pleased that her words have been so provocatively transformed.
Thank you! My dad was a carrier man and he made it clear he did NOT want me to go in the army as he did. He wanted me to learn a trade.
without a doubt,the most amazing miss Buffy Sainte-Marie,and without a shred of a doubt,one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written. If she never did another thing,that one song made her one of the great cultural icons of our time
I'm commenting on behalf of my husband (Vietnam vet). "Without soldiers you can't have war, but then again freedom has a price, singing songs of freedom has a price, who pays the price for freedom? Soldiers." That's is all he had to say..he walked off with tears in his eyes. Personally I think Buffy has a lot to say, but so does my husband. He hates war, he didn't go to Nam because he wanted to. He earned three Purples and is disabled because of it. I am torn, but will stand by him.
WoW! Never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Truth does that for me.
Me too I've heard this song many times by Donovan ,I always thought it was Donovan that wrote it. I love Buffy and all she stands for. This has made me so emotional.
@@amyconnolly1288 A friend of mine said when I told her I refused to be inducted, "Thank you for your service." That meant a lot to me.
Same. I listen to this a couple times a year and my reaction ranges from tears to full on crying. She cuts perfectly to the universal core of the issue, and the dissonant ending drives it home.
Love Buffy. Saw her perform in Melbourne Australia in 2015 for the first time and met her and the band after the show. She was so lovely and so beautiful. I have the greatest respect for her for everything that she has done and continues to do. A wonderful teacher.
Thank you for this clip. I was a child during the Vietnam War, it ended when I was a teenager.....this was one of my favorite folk songs. Unfortunetly we are in a war again, it seems like it will never end. Peace!!!
Maybe the greatest, most meaningful song of all time. Thank you Buffy.
The first time I heard her in the 60's I was i love with her voice. She is am amazing signer and song writer that is underrated.
I am a Chippewa warrior from the Viet Nam war. I earned two feathers assigned to the First Special Forces, hand grenade fragments, one bullet, PTSD, and Agent Orange problems. We were programmed for war by our history. The need to become a Warrior. It is sad, but true. No one thinks it will ever happen to him and now her. We need to put our minds and train our children towards peace. My daughter asked about the Army, and I said, "Look at me. Do you want to become like this?" Fred Jack
I’ve always loved Buffy & this song means as much today as it did when she first wrote it. We really do need to put an end to wars. Before we all get blown away
Buffy Sainte-Marie you are an amazing woman! Much respect to you.
i d'ont speak a good as language but when i was soldier i like leasen buffy like a friendly girl i love her
Buffy, you still all these years later bring a tear to my eye with this song. I wore out 2 vinyl records listening before my time to refuse induction into the army came. So glad I got to tell you this a few years ago. Thank you! for the TRUTH ....
Just saw her last night end her concert with this song. Keep singing it Buffy!!!
Patricia Clark I just saw her in Santa Fe a couple days ago! Awesome
She is a true artist. I loved her music especially Universal Soldier. It gets to my heart.
One of the finest songs ever written and always will be, as there's not a day goes by without some monster planning a war, an invasion, an ethnic cleansing or a massacre.
I will always love Buffy and that song still makes me cry
after all these years. What a Voice.
I just finished watching a PBS documentary on Buffy St Marie I'm 44 years old a lover of music of all kinds American of Mexican descent my father is as white as any Spaniard and my mother is as brown and beautiful as any indigenous native woman but I have always been more proud more closer to my brown skin and the culture that I have inherited from my mother my point is I have became a new fan after watching this documentary and I will go out and buy every album that she has release of this amazing legendary iconic woman Buffy St Marie I also never got to meet my uncle Julian Rivera who died in the Vietnam War at the age of 18
That PBS documentary brought me here as well. I too lost many friends who fought in Viet Nam. This song is very powerful.
Great upload, thanks for sharing! And congrats to Buffy as she receives the Lifetime Contribution to Aboriginal Music honour tonight at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. Just another well deserved award for Canada's conscience.
this song makes me cry every time I hear it bless you Buffy it as true today as when you wrote it
A beautiful song, a beautiful soul. It doesn't matter who did what or when or to whom. We keep on doing it - that's the problem! We have forgotten, as individuals, how to live with the world. We have never known, as humans, how to live together.
The war song to end all wars. Will they listen for onces.
Passion is the strongest weapon against stupidity of killings.
Please keep sing for us, wonderful woman
I tried to explain to my brother returning from the Navy in the mid-late 1960's why I liked this song. Turns out from the narration here, I was right about it. The Universal Soldier she sang of was hired by you and me, the sleeping majority who doesn't even realize that it is their sentiments about war or their silence that keep it returning again and again. And now that the huge money powers find it so profitable, it seems to presently be unable to leave the scene with either victory or defeat.
The corporations that are the power behind these wars are always the only winners
ua-cam.com/video/VGWsGyNsw00/v-deo.html
Yes fridgewrestler, my father fought in world war 2 and loved this song too. he was impressed that someone so young could see so much I think.
Here come the tears . . . what a song.
Many thanks & much appreciation to this beautiful indigenous lady. With a heart as big as her gifted voice.💝
brings tears to my eyes....love you Buffy for this
I'm with you brother..my father died from wounds he got in that stupid war. And i spent my younger years fighting against it. Never ends as you say. Respect to you and your brothers!
This was OUR anthem. It still is for me. Why don't we "hear" and understand what she sings. Thank you.
Thanks Buffy! You sing and write beautifully!
Still one of the best songs of all time.
Someone asked rhetorically, when will we ever learn?
The ironic answer.. when we teach ourselves.
Buffy is another of the legendary female folk singers of the time.
Well said Buffy, your commentary at the beginning of the video gave me goosebumps-I've always loved that song but to see you sing it live leaves me breathless.
Saskia
SHe sings from the true heart and it resonates with those who can hear and disturbs those who can't.
Buiffy and Joan and Pete and Bob and Phil and many others woke up a nation. Where are the troubidors of today who sing not for the money or the fame but from the heart to wake up a nation hooked on the drug of war?
It's March 2nd, 2022 and this song, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER by BUFFY SAINT-MARIE is so meaningful today!
Emouvante Buffy Sainte-Marie dans cette superbe chanson en faveur de la paix dont elle est l'auteure et compositrice.
Buffy needs to update this song. The US soldier/marine is from the lower middle-class families, the lower-class, and the rural boys from the small towns and farms. The universal soldier is not the upper-class nor the upper middle class. They're too important to serve. If I sound bitter, I am. I was a marine because I came from a farm. I my little area of two small towns and farms there were approximately 30 young men of draft age during Vietnam. Two didn't serve because they had glasses that looked like the bottom of coke bottles. The other one was Daddy's Little farmer and Daddy did something to keep him out of the draft. Two died over their and two killed themselves shortly after getting home. The first thing I did when I got home was get rid of all my guns. The second thing I did was get rid of any US flags that I had. Patriotism is nothing more than getting the lower classes to fight for the upper classes.
USMC 1969-1971
Amen for that. Also your service shouldn't be forgotten.
Thank you for this remarkable post Robert. I can hear your anguish in every line, the injustice that was done to you and the other working class kids who were in intolerable situations in these rich people wars. God bless you brother, I hope you have peace and joy in your life. You are an inspiration.
You are so rigth man ! !😮😢
Wacek4444--It was my pleasure to share this story. I am delighted that you have discovered Buffy's music. Her songs carry such a wide range of deep feelings, and truly come from a heart that is true to itself. Buffy, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan have had a great influence on my own poetry, songwriting and performing. I agree with you about all the crap that gets passed off as music these days. As Joni put it so well, the music business has become a cesspool.
She is a true Indigenous and ingenious genius
The first time i heard this song, i think was my senior summer, just out of high school. It absolutely floored me and was my introduction to this artist. I was drafted 18 months later. I was in the army hospital in seoul when the vietnam war officially ended. I havent heard this song in atleast 30 years, and is still very moving for me. Hey carljj, lighten up a bit, and you too musik, we know it was a war, the kid just means it was never a declared war. thanks for the post and the memory.
i'm playing this song today
It has been said that Albert Einstein was asked a question. "How do we end war?" His response was "young people must refuse military service."
I first saw Buffy Ste Marie at the Ash Grove on Melrose Blve in Los Angeles, with friend and cultural entrepreneur Carrol Peery (Minnesota, L.A., Berkeley), together with the Chambers Brothers. I could remember what she wore! Saw her many times, followed her career and she remains our families favorite. Love her 'Welcome, Welcome Immigrante', but then too, I love them all. Daughter ween on the Buffy songbooks, also sings these as part of her repertoire. Wonderful Buffy Ste. Marie! So worthy of her recent award that pays back for her decades of contributions.
i agree with u soooo much, i have often said the very same thing.."all that it takes for evil to take over is for the good people to do nothing" just make sure ur on the side of the truly good people
Fantastic song ... it never grows old ...
FILMING EYES
The lens, eyes that see.
Mirrors in our minds an illusion,
reflects a reality.
Maybe a rare, perhaps,
only of the few.
Filming the life,
life.
Perhaps to a reality,
among distant stars.
We know that we know nothing.
So maybe,
however, just a film,
from life filming eyes,
ask no more,
Universal soldier.
Love you Buffy and what privilege to live on this blue planet with you.
+Paul-Erik Kirkegaard Wow! It took me a bit of time to get it. Thank you.
It really is a privilege isn't it? What a wonderful song
Tks
@mightymissk Brother you are so right on in what you said. My father fought in numerous battles in the South Pacific in WW2, but when I refused induction into the service during Vietnam, he respected my decision, because he knew it wasn't made out of cowardice but was out of conscience and principals, and in my heart it was the only decision I could live with. I appreciate that there are at least some people who respect that, even if they don't agree.
One of the best songs and clearest words of true ever said. It can be compared only to Imagine from Lennon but Buffy comes closer to the point ...
At the height of the Viet Nam war, a small group of students and professors at my university met to develop a strategy to protest this vile, undeclared war in a non-violent, peaceful way. Everyone was frightened. Names were being put on enemy lists, etc etc.
I asked them all if I could sing a song for them. Guess what I sang. When I finished the last verses of "Universal Soldier", a professor whispered to me--"My God, you could lead them anywhere with that." "Thank Buffy, not me," I replied.
so thankful for all the work and music you have done for us beautiful people with native ancestry
The song still rings true today.
Thanks for this interview because it sheds light on how she wrote this antiwar classic in ***1962***, when there wasn't any visible antiwar movement. That was even before JFK was assassinated! And well before LBJ started the escalations that sparked the antiwar movement. She says that, at the time, they were denying that there even was a war in Vietnam that the US was involved in -- JFK was only sending "advisers," and while some people were claiming that the "advisers" were involved in the fighting, the JFK administration was all "no, no, no, there are only a few American advisers there." This song (like Buffy's early coffeehouse career) doesn't come from the hippie era, it comes from the Beat era. (She actually makes this point in a coded way: that "caffeine was the drug.") The world was very different by 1968, your pictures don't quite match the time she was talking about, but that is fine, I just wanted people to appreciate her prescience. This song didn't come out of the antiwar movement era but well before that. Not to mention the prescience of her songs like "Buffalo's Gone" and "My Country Tis of Thy People You're Dying" years before AIM. And because she has shown herself to be so brilliantly prescient in the past, I am paying attention to her recent interviews in which she talks about how she sees the future. Thanks, this is a great glimpse into history. I can't tell you how much I have loved Buffy for almost fifty years!
It could be a song about wars previous to the Vietnam war. It's all the same.
I think it was written in 1963. But there was a movie called Universal Soldier out in 1962.
That is so deep and so true
You know what’s funny? My mom and dad used to say “They don’t make them like they used to.” Now here I am. Now here we are.
I can only imagine how great a duet of Merle Haggard and Buffy Sainte-Marie would sound....think about it music lovers.
Thank You Buffy, this can help some to understand that Each of share in the responsibility of war. I consider this to be 1 of THE most important messages of ALL times. When we allow war (in our heart, our home, or our nation) we are doing the same as saying it's justified, it's OK, The solders are only a part of this. We Are All responsible and we must all declare PEACE. We can stop harm but only with Love, the intent must be to stop the harm with as little harm as possible.
Love & Peace to All
I cry every time I listen to that song, it's so true.
Peace! Thanks a lot Buffy!
Good woman...more power to her !
The world is not ready to listen to this truth
Celeste Kent is Kent your real last names and I love what this song means
Now more than ever
Such a sensitive child; watching hearses pass by and I would stop right there and not walk another step, until the procession passed. Thinking about it all; the family, their loved one. I think of my sister, that did not live to see adulthood due to violence. Still I do not have 'the' answer. But now I see Love, building bridges. Kindness. No matter what critics say, we are doing it. Friends reaching out to each other all around the world. WOW!
always she brings tears to me.i also listening to her since in utero...i got given her songbook the other day with so many of her songs...i been searching for it all my life
Brilliant and grounded and compassionate, we are graced to have Buffy Saint-Marie. Check out her interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!
love Buffy!!
I could listen to her speaking forever now. ✌️
My best friend was training as a B-52 pilot at March Air Force Base in 1970. He and 6 other pilots made a moral decision and informed their commander that they had decided that they could not drop bombs on the Vietnamese. Freak out. The CO said to my friend, who was Hispanic, "Roberto, I just don't understand this, I thought that you were a "good" Mexican. At first, they threatened to put them in prison for fraud, but then, quietly let them resign. This never made the news. Aloha from Kauai.
Thank you for giving us that. It is important to remember not everyone was "just following orders". Many said no or no more.
That Is Inspiring. Such Integrity, In the Face Of Corruption, From The Top Down. "For Evil To Triumph, All It Takes Is "Good Folks" , To Stand By And To Nothing. Those General's Lied, And Thousands Died.
I Was Born In 1963. My Mother Was Stollen Too. I Grew Up In "The System".
Thank You Buffy, For Making The Dot's Really Red, Really Big ,And Really Close Together... So Our Hearts, Minds And Spirits, Could Resonate With This Truth. Miigweech. From Uncieded Algonquin/Anishinabe, Territory. Ottawa.
Those were good men, and don't let anyone tell you anything different.
Listening to this lady makes me feel humble
It's amazing, that the themes war and peace are causing always the biggest and longest discussions here on youtube as well as everywhere else....
A good mirror for us to see where we are standing.