Each year, dozens of emerging synthpop acts release covers of classic songs by the legendary Depeche Mode. So it’s a welcome and unexpected surprise when we find Depeche Mode covering someone else. Today, DM released a version of “Universal Soldier” that is among the most compelling work they’ve produced in two decades.
“Universal Soldier” is an anti-war protest song written by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie, who is best known for the Academy Award-winning song “Up Where We Belong” from the film An Officer and a Gentleman. She wrote “Universal Soldier” in 1963 after encountering injured American troops returning home from the Vietnam War. The song has been previously covered many times, notably by Donovan, Glen Campbell, and First Aid Kit.
Depeche Mode’s timing couldn’t be more astounding. Their version arrives the same week the United States and Israel launched a needless war against Iran, escalating tensions and sowing chaos across the Middle East.
Dave Gahan and Martin Gore have transformed this folk song into a dark, electrified menace. Their version bristles with rattling chains, chilling synth pads, and a heavy, deliberate beat, anchored by Gahan’s unmistakable voice. The band recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios in November 2025, which in itself feels notable. After the release of Memento Mori and the heartbreaking loss of founding member Andy Fletcher, it wasn’t entirely clear if Depeche Mode would continue recording new material.
Producer James Ford, who worked with the band on Memento Mori, helped shape the track. Here’s what he told NME:
“Martin has always had his eye on what’s going on in the world politically. Their process is often quite painfully slow, so I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it for a while. Then weirdly, it was one of the first tracks that got delivered once Martin had found the track to cover. I love it when people really flip a cover version to make it feel like their own track. He sent me something within a couple of weeks, well before the Abbey Road sessions, so we had that early doors. I think it’s a really interesting version.”
The song appears on a new charity compilation called HELP(2) from War Child Records. All proceeds from the album support War Child UK, which works to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict around the world. Ford served as executive producer of the compilation, which features an impressive lineup of contributors including Bat For Lashes, Beck, Damon Albarn, Fontaines D.C., and more.
Depeche Mode’s most recent album, Memento Mori, arrived in 2023, one year after the death of Andy Fletcher. Ford co-produced it as well, and the record included four songs co-written by Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs. I named it one of the best albums of the year for its poignant reflections on aging and death.
You can stream “Universal Soldier” on Spotify and purchase HELP(2) via War Child.
“Universal Soldier” lyrics
Note: Depeche Mode recorded Donovan’s version of the lyrics, which made a few minor modifications to Buffy Sainte-Marie’s original.
He’s five feet 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
And he knows he shouldn’t kill
And he knows he always will
Kill you for me, my friend, and me for you
And he’s killing for Canada, he’s killing for France
He’s killing for the USA
And he’s killing for the Russians
And he’s killing for Japan
And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way
And he’s fighting for democracy, he’s fighting for the Reds
He says it’s for the peace of us all
He’s the one who must decide
Who’s to live and who’s to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall
But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Libau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He’s the one who gives his body
As a 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 here and there and you and me
And brothers can’t you see
This is not the way we put an end to war
