Universal Soldier
1965 · CBS BP 233283 · Adelaide, Australia
- Artist
- Doug Ashdown
- Title
- Universal Soldier
- Release
- This Is Doug Ashdown
- Year
- 1965
- Label
- CBS # BP 233283
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Adelaide, Australia
- Songwriter
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation — Australian & New Zealand Songs
Singer/songwriter / pop folk artist, born in 1942, Adelaide, Australia. He covered of the famous contemporary folk anti-war song "Universal Soldier" (CBS # BP 233283), composed by Buffy Sainte-Marie, and released on her 1964 album It's My Way!. Covered by dozens, if not hundreds, of artists, this version, released in 1965, as Australia was sending troops to Vietnam, is a good representation of the contemporary protest, anti-war scene.12 The lyrics take a critical view of the individual soldier, who justified the war, as "fighting for Democracy and fighting for the Reds". Many protest songs took a different perspective, placing the blame on the government and military, while viewing the soldiers as innocent pawns. Jan Berry wrote a well-known patriotic and anti-protest response / answer record to this song in 1965: "The Universal Coward". Sources1americansongwriter.com: Buffy sainte marie universal soldier↩2Wikipedia: Universal Soldier (song)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Doug Ashdown - singer-songwriter and pop-folk artist, born 1942, Adelaide, South Australia.
Themes
In collections
Australian & New Zealand Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]