One of the gentlest war-protest songs I’ve ever known (learned, sung) is Jean Ritchie’s “The Soldier.”  In my research I cannot find much written about this song, or indeed, any recording of Jean’s to share with you.  What I do know is that this song is a Ritchie original, not one of her collected songs or traditional songs put into a new version.  This is her own expression about the futility of war.

Thanks to friend Dan Schatz, fellow musician and student of Jean’s, I have the following background on the song, by way of her liner notes for the album “The Most Dulcimer.”  It seems that “The Soldier” was a bonus track on that album.  Here is what she had to say about it:

“In today’s world, it is understood by everyone that there can never be “a war to end war.” Yet, during World War I, folks believed just that. There is no satisfaction in the fact that they were wrong; rather, a worldweary kind of acceptance of that knowledge that, somewhere in the world, there will always be nation against nation. When I realized this, as a very young person, it was one of my life’s saddest moments – yet I know that our working and our hoping for Peace throughout the world must not die. “The Solder,” set to a tune based on one of our Old Regular Baptist hymns, was written in memory of relatives and friends lost in World War II.”

The song is included in her song/sheet music collection published in 1971, “Jean Ritchie: Celebration of Life – her songs…her poems.” 

At the same time that this song serves as a sad commentary on the endlessness of war-making, it is also a fitting tribute to those who fight the wars, and wait endlessly for the end of wars.  Some never see the end of the war they’re in – and we remember them on Memorial Day and beyond.

The Soldier
Jean Ritchie

Oh they say that the war’s nearly won
And declare there’s a change in the wind
And my feet stumble on, and the year’s come and gone
And they say that the war’s nearly won.

Another day shall arise,
Another red morning sun
My seasons are counted, and marching away,
A lone soldier and far from my home.

Sweet peace when will you come again?
You turn like a far star alone
Will I ever be blest with your innocent rest
And be free and be safe and be home.

Still they say that the war’s nearly won
And declare there’s a change in the wind
And the years stumble on, and a thousand years gone
And they say that the war’s nearly won.

Here is my studio recording from 2015 and below that a performance from 2019 that pairs “The Soldier” with Jean’s song “One I Love.”  With Steve Rankin on guitar, Mark Indictor on fiddle and Fred Sanders on bass.

And as always, thanks for reading!

Love and Blessings,

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Susie

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Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene.  LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.”  “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.”  As an educator, Susie has lectured at USC Thornton School of Music and Cal State Northridge on “Balladry to Bluegrass,” illuminating the historical path of ancient folk forms in the United Kingdom to the United States via immigration into the mountains of Appalachia.  Susie has taught workshops since 2018 at California music camps RiverTunes and Vocáli Voice Camp.  She is a current specialist in performance and historian on the work of American folk music icon, Jean Ritchie.  Susie now offers private voice coaching online via the Zoom platform.   www.susieglaze.com