Buffy Sainte-Marie

By anybody’s standards or criteria, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s tenure with Vanguard created a banquet of unparalleled work.

Certain of the period’s songs became common currency and thanks to covers by Neil Diamond, Donovan, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and artists of their commercial ilk and status, indeed several are so well established in the wider public imagination they count as almost authorless or at least once or twice removed from their Buffy’s name. Take ‘Universal Soldier’ – “Soldier Blue’s” opening salvo – and the way it became fused with Donovan. Or ‘Co’dine’ – long associated with San Francisco’s Quicksilver Messenger Service and still apt to pop up on the right night in the repertoires of Courtney Love or Jefferson Starship. Her voice set her apart as a one-off, whether voice is considered from a writerly or vocal perspective. Such vibrato slivers and shivers only ever belonged to Buffy.