Buffy Sainte-Marie

Universal Soldier

1964 · Vanguard VRS-9142 · New York City, New York

Artist
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Title
Universal Soldier
Release
It's My Way!
Year
1964
Label
Vanguard # VRS-9142
Format
LP · Album
Language
English
Country
New York City, New York, USA
Songwriter
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Genre
Folk · Contemporary Folk
Primary theme
Peace, Protest & Anti-War

Annotation

Buffy Sainte-Marie, a contemporary folk / singer-songwriter, born 20 February 1941 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, USA, played an active and influential role in the 1960s pacifist movement. Since the early 1960s, Sainte-Marie claimed to have been born on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, and that she descended from the Cree - one of the largest groups of Native American in North America. However, a CBS investigation, titled "Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? Buffy Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous ancestry are being contradicted by members of the iconic singer-songwriter’s own family and an extensive CBC investigation" - concluded that Sainte-Marie was born in the US, of Italian and English descent. (1) Acting chief of the Piapot First Nation, Ira Lavallee, said that despite the investigation, Sainte-Marie remained accepted: "we do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate". (2)The song "Universal Soldier", released in April 1964, and composed by Saint-Marie, is one of the most well-known and iconic anti-war song from the Vietnam War…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Indigenous Americans

Buffy Sainte-Marie, a contemporary folk / singer-songwriter, born 20 February 1941 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, USA, played an active and influential role in the 1960s pacifist movement. Since the early 1960s, Sainte-Marie claimed to have been born on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, and that she descended from the Cree - one of the largest groups of Native American in North America. However, a CBS investigation, titled "Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? Buffy Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous ancestry are being contradicted by members of the iconic singer-songwriter’s own family and an extensive CBC investigation" - concluded that Sainte-Marie was born in the US, of Italian and English descent. (1) Acting chief of the Piapot First Nation, Ira Lavallee, said that despite the investigation, Sainte-Marie remained accepted, and thus included in this list: "We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate". (2)The song "Universal Soldier", released in April 1964, and composed by Saint-Marie, is one of the most well-known and iconic…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Since the early 1960s, Sainte-Marie claimed to have been born on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, and that she descended from the Cree. However, a CBS investigation concluded that Sainte-Marie was born in the US, of Italian and English descent.

About the artist

Born 20 February 1941 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, USA

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

Indigenous Americans · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs