Album: I Remember Hank Williams (1973)

Universal Soldier

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 U.S.A.
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