A B E C#m
He's five foot two and he's six feet four
A B E
He fights with missiles and with spears
A B E C#m
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen
F#m B
He's been a soldier for a thousand years
A B E C#m
He's a catholic, a hindu, an atheist, a jain,
A B E
D buddhist and a baptist and a jew
A B
And he knows he shouldn't kill
E C#m
And he knows he always will
F#m B
Kill you for me, my friend and me for you
A B E C#m
And he's fighting for Canada, he's fighting for France
A B E E7
He's fighting for the U.S.A.
A B E C#m
He's fighting for the Russians and he's fighting for Japan
F#m B
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way
A B E C#m
And he's fighting for democracy, he's fighting for the reds
A B E E7
He says it's for the peace of all
A B E C#m
He's the one who must decide who's to live and who's to die
F#m B
And he never sees the writing on the wall
A B E C#m
But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau
A B E E7
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
A B E C#m
He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war
F#m B
And without him all this killing can't go on
A B E C#m
He's the universal soldier and he really is to blame
A B E
His orders come from far away no more
A F#m
They come from here and there and you and me
E C#m
And brothers can't you see
F#m
This is not the way we put the end to war
Transcribed by David Linley 4th November 1995