One Tin Soldier
One Tin Soldier is a ‘60s era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. The Canadian pop group Original Caste first recorded the song in 1969. The track briefly reached limited popularity locally and reached Number 34 on the American pop charts in early 1970.
The US rock group Coven recorded the song as part of the sound track for the movie Billy Jack. This release, titled as "One Tin Soldier: The Legend of Billy Jack", reached number 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in fall 1971, while a slightly different version recorded by Guy Chandler (titled "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)") charted in summer 1973. Coven never recorded another significant hit, becoming a so-called one hit wonder.
"One Tin Soldier" tells the abstract story of a hidden treasure and two feuding peoples (the Mountain People and the Valley People) to describe how inhumane some people can be when greed is involved. The Valley People are aware of a "treasure" on the mountain, buried under a stone; they send a message to the Mountain People demanding those riches. When told they can share the treasure, the Valley People instead mount their horses, swords drawn, and ride up to take it by force. After killing all the Mountain People, the victors move the stone and find nothing more than a simple message: "Peace on Earth".
The song has been covered by other groups, including Gimp, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and Killdozer. Luanne Platter (Brittany Murphey) sang the song on the King of the Hill Soundtrack. It has also been mistakenly credited to Joan Baez, who never recorded it.
This song was also covered by Voices for Peace, a band consisting of a group of voice actors including Greg Ayres and Tiffany Grant. Ayres sang this very rock-ish version of the song.
The Original Caste version is still played on Canadian oldies stations.
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The most widely played version of the song, "One Tin Soldier", was recorded by Skeeter Davis in 1972. Her rendition of the song earned her a nomination for a Grammy as Best Female Country Vocal. Skeeter Davis, who's real name was Mary Francis Penick, recorded over thirty LPs from 1960 to 2004. She is the only woman in the history of the Billboard charts to hit the top ten singles list on all four singles charts ('The End of the World' - 1963).
It was Skeeter Davis who recorded the version often associated with other folk singers such as Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez. Neither of those two performers ever recorded the song even though it is continually stated they did on many internet web sites. It was also never recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Maureen McGovern or the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary.
Skeeter Davis passed away in 2004 after a prolonged battle with breast cancer. Unofficial Web Site
The lyrics were written by Dennis Lambert and the music by Brian Potter. That pair wrote a long list of hits in the 70s including one recorded by The Four Tops - "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I Got)." Their biggest success was producing the album Rhinestone Cowboy for Glen Campbell for which they wrote four songs.
An animated version of the song, sung by singing duo Sonny & Cher was created by animator John David Wilson for the Sonny and Cher Show.