Only in Oz (15): Glen Campbell - The Universal Soldier (1965)

Another in my series of posts about tracks that were more popular in Australia than in their countries of origin. See also: Only in Melbourne.

15. Glen Campbell - The Universal Soldier
(Buffy Sainte-Marie)
USA 1965
Capitol single (USA) # 5504
US charts: #45 Billboard, #61 Cash Box
Capitol single (Australia) #CP-1622
Australian charts: #5 Melbourne, #26 Sydney, #11 Brisbane, #3 Adelaide, #8 Perth (Kent: #16 Australia)
Co-charted with version by Donovan in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide (see end of page)

On the face of it, The Universal Soldier seems like an unlikely song for Glen Campbell. Written by pacifist folk artist and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie, it fitted into the current genre of the protest song, and it carries an uncompromising anti-war message. Campbell was a conservative kind of guy, as songwriter Jim Webb found upon first meeting him: I had long hair. I'll never forget the first thing he said to me. He said, "Why don't you get your hair cut?" He and I were on the opposite sides of, I guess, the political spectrum at that time. [Listen to Webb's full anecdote at Spotify]

Campbell's works, though, defied pigeonholing. Many of his hits had a country sound, and he did well on the country charts, but he could also record Guess I'm Dumb, a sublime piece of classic pop written and produced by Brian Wilson [YouTube]. An artful creation like Wichita Lineman comfortably sat on both the country and the pop charts.

I suspect that Campbell's reputation widened over the years as pop connoisseurs became aware of how much skillful, uncredited session musicians contributed to the familiar recordings of the 60s. A fine example is the loose LA group now known as The Wrecking Crew which Campbell played in before his solo career took off.

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In Australia in 1965, military conscription had just been re-introduced the year before. Australia's commitment to the Vietnam War was not far off, and soon after that it would be made possible to send conscripts to Vietnam.  The Australian tradition of anti-conscription sentiment was also stirring although the bitter divisions over conscription and Vietnam were still to come.  

One station where I heard the song in 1965 was ABC Radio, back-announced with That was Glen Campbell, repeating the fallacy that it takes two sides to start a war. Being realistic, it's hard to argue with that, and my father, a WW2 veteran, warmly agreed with the announcer. Even so, some younger audiences might have found some idealistic hope in Buffy Sainte-Marie's uncomplicated vision of soldiers ending all wars by declining to fight. 

In 1965 Australians didn't mind a song with topical or political themes. The obvious example is Barry McGuire's recording of P.F. Sloan's Eve of Destruction which takes aim at conscription, nuclear arms and racial prejudice (1965, #1 USA #6 Sydney #2 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #2 Adelaide #1 Perth). A more interesting case is Wake Up My Mind, a band original by Birmingham's Ugly's (their apostrophe). Their song about middle-class complacency in the face of war and injustice was a hit only in Australia (1965, #6 Sydney #34 Melbourne #9 Brisbane #1 Adelaide #4 Perth), earning it a place in Glenn A. Baker's Hard To Get Hits compilations of similar cases.

The Universal Soldier might even have reminded some listeners of  Ed McCurdy's song Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream, first recorded by Pete Seeger (1956, as Strangest Dream) and then by many others including Simon & Garfunkel (1964): I dreamed the world had all agreed / To put an end to war... / And guns and swords and uniforms / Were scattered on the ground.

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The Universal Soldier has been overshadowed by later Glen Campbell hits such as Galveston (1969), Honey Come Back (1970), and Rhinestone Cowboy (1975). His 1967 recordings of the Jim Webb compositions By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1967) and Wichita Lineman (1968) are landmarks in Webb's distinguished songwriting career. 

By the time of his first Top 10 hit in Australia with Galveston (1969), Campbell had already had four Top 5 hits in the US, beginning with By the Time I Get to Phoenix (1967). His Australian chart performance had been surprisingly lukewarm before Galveston, when even his US #1 and towering classic Wichita Lineman (1968) made only the lower end of the Top 20 in Australia.

Further listening and viewing: Glen Campbell commentary and appreciation by Wings of Pegasus at YouTube.

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• Donovan
A version of The Universal Soldier on an EP by British folk singer Donovan co-charted with Glen Campbell in four of the five Australian cities covered by Gavin Ryan's chart books (only Melbourne stuck with Campbell alone). The track was not released as a single in Australia.

Donovan's EP, also called The Universal Soldier, was a hit on the UK EP charts. No single was released in the UK but the EP also did well on the singles chart (#14 UK).

Donovan's version was released as a single in New Zealand, and in the US where Donovan's and Campbell's versions were on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts at the same time. Neither was a big hit there.

• The Roemans
Tommy Roe's backing band The Roemans released a version of Universal Soldier in August 1965, the month before Glen Campbell and Donovan released theirs. It was reviewed well in Billboard but made little impact (with at least one exception in Roe's hometown of Atlanta GA). Florida band The Roemans had tweaked their name from Romans when they started working with Tommy Roe.