As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, Buffy Sainte-Marie
returns to the Democracy Now! studios. Her song "Universal Soldier"
became one of the classic antiwar songs of the 1960s. Buffy Sainte-Marie
once said, "It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the
old feudal thinking kills us all." Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote the song in
1964. A year later, just months after U.S. ground forces invaded
Vietnam, the British singer Donovan turned it into a hit. She has also
written and sung about the struggles of Native American and First
Nations people for decades. She worked with the American Indian Movement
and began the Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education. Her
political activism would lead her to be largely blacklisted from
commercial radio in the 1970s. On her new album, she re-records two
songs from what’s become known as her "blacklist years." Five decades
later, Buffy Sainte-Marie is still making powerful music. She has just
released "Power in the Blood." It’s her first studio album since 2008.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The legendary Native American folksinger Buffy Sainte-Marie singing in our Democracy Now! studio in 2009. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, today, as we head into the Memorial Day weekend, Buffy Sainte-Marie returns to the Democracy Now! studios. That song, "Universal Soldier," has become one of the classic antiwar songs of the 1960s. She once said, "It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all." Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote the song in 1964. A year later, just months after U.S. ground forces invaded Vietnam, the British singer Donovan turned it into a hit. Five decades later, she is still making powerful music. She has just released Power in the Blood. It’s her first studio album since 2008.
AMY GOODMAN: Buffy Sainte-Marie has led a remarkable life. She was born in 1941 on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada. She grew up in Massachusetts after becoming an orphan. In the early '60s, she became a leading figure in the Toronto and Greenwich Village folk scenes. Her song "Until It's Time for You to Go" was recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley to Barbara Streisand to Neil Diamond. She has also written and sung about the struggles of Native American and First Nations people for decades. She worked with the American Indian Movement and began a foundation for American Indian education. Her political activism would lead her to be largely blacklisted from commercial radio in the '70s. On her new album, she re-records two songs from what's become known as her "blacklist years."
