"One Tin Soldier" | ||||
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Single by The Original Caste | ||||
from the album One Tin Soldier | ||||
B-side | "Live for Tomorrow" | |||
Released | November 1969 | |||
Recorded | 1969 | |||
Genre | Folk rock | |||
Length | 3:38 | |||
Label | Bell | |||
Songwriter(s) | Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter | |||
The Original Caste singles chronology | ||||
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"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s counterculture era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Canadian pop group The Original Caste (consisting of Dixie Lee Innes, Bruce Innes, Graham Bruce, Joseph Cavender and Bliss Mackie) first recorded it in 1969 for both the TA label and its parent Bell label.
The song, recorded by various artists, charted each year from 1969 to 1974 on various charts in the United States and Canada. However, it did not chart outside North America.
"One Tin Soldier" went to number 6 on the RPM Magazine charts, hit the number 1 position on CHUM AM in Toronto on 27 December 1969, [1] and reached number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in early 1970. It was a bigger hit on the Billboard Easy Listening Chart (Adult Contemporary), reaching number 25 and number 5 on the Canada Adult Contemporary Chart. [2]
A 1971 cover was a hit in the U.S. for Jinx Dawson, lead vocalist of Coven, whose recording was featured in the film Billy Jack . The single went to number 26 on the Billboard pop chart [3] [4] before it was pulled from radio by the film's producer. On November 20, 1971, Coven performed "One Tin Soldier" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program American Bandstand . A re-recorded version by Coven made the Billboard chart in 1973, peaking at number 79.
In 1972, Skeeter Davis had moderate success on the American country charts with her rendering, but did very well in Canada, peaking at number 4 on the country chart and number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart. [5] Davis received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal.
One Tin Soldier has been said to have the same harmonic base as Pachelbel's Canon . The intro is pulled directly from Pachelbel's Canon with the first seven chords of One Tin Soldier matching those of Pachelbel's Canon. However, the two pieces diverge at the eighth chord and eighth note of each part, respectively. The remainder of One Tin Soldier merely has some aural similarities in the verses and has several significantly different chords. [6] [7]
"One Tin Soldier" describes the story of a fictional Kingdom located on a mountain, who possess a great treasure. The neighboring faction from the mountain's valley becomes envious of this treasure, and intend to claim it for themselves, suspecting it may be gold. The Kingdom refuses their request, instead offering to share it rather than surrender it outright. The people of the valley proceed to invade the Kingdom and kill everyone in order to seize the treasure. Once the treasure is located, it is revealed that it is actually a boulder inscribed with "peace on earth" on the bottom, implying the invasion was pointless.
"One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" | |
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Single by Coven | |
from the album Original Sound Track Music from the Motion Picture "Billy Jack" | |
B-side | "I Think You Always Knew (The Theme from Billy Jack)" |
Released | September 1971 |
Recorded | 1971 |
Genre | Pop |
Length | 3:18 |
Label | Warner Bros. |
Songwriter(s) | Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter |
Producer(s) | Mundell Lowe |
Singer Jinx Dawson of the band Coven performed the song at a 1971 session with the film's orchestra as part of the soundtrack for the Warner Bros. film Billy Jack. Dawson asked that her band, Coven, be listed on the recording and film, not her name as a solo artist. This Warner release, titled as "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)", reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1971. [3] [4]
The full Coven band then re-recorded the song for their self-titled MGM album, which displayed the band members' whited-out faces on the cover, contrived by the film's producer Tom Laughlin. Coven hit the charts again with the song in 1973, in both the new MGM recording and a reissue of their Warner original. The Coven recording was named Number One All Time Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by the American Radio Broadcasters Association.[ citation needed ]
Chart (1969–1970) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [8] | 5 |
Canada RPM Top Singles [9] | 6 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] | 34 |
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 25 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 34 |
Chart (1971–72) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia Kent Music Report [11] | 45 |
Canada RPM Top Singles [12] | 89 |
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [13] | 34 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] | 26 |
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 16 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 26 |
Chart (1972) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [14] | 2 |
Canada RPM Country [15] | 4 |
U.S. Billboard Country [10] | 54 |
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] | 79 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [16] | 68 |
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada RPM Top Singles [17] | 45 |
Chart (1974) | Peak position |
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Canada RPM Top Singles [18] | 79 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] | 73 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [19] | 73 |
A version recorded by Guy Chandler (titled "One Tin Soldier [The Legend of Billy Jack]") was released in the summer of 1973.
A version sung by Coven, with a video created by animator John David Wilson was produced for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour .
Roseanne Barr parodied the song on her 1990 album I Enjoy Being a Girl.
Delores Laughlin sang an abbreviated version of the song during the end credits of the film sequel "Billy Jack Goes to Washington"(1977).
The song has been covered by other artists, including Billy Strings, Mad Parade, Gimp, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Bushman, and Killdozer. Actress Brittany Murphy, in character as Luanne Platter, sang the song on the King of the Hill soundtrack. This song was also covered by Voices for Peace, a band consisting of a group of voice actors including Greg Ayres and Tiffany Grant. Abigail and Milly Shapiro covered the song for their live album Live Out Loud.
Toronto hardcore punk band, Direct Action, included a cover of the song on their "Trapped in a World" LP (1985).
The progressive bluegrass band The Bluegrass Alliance covered the song at bluegrass festivals in the early 1970s. [20]
"Pledging My Love" is a blues ballad. It was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and published in 1954.
"Signs" is a song by the Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band. It was written by the band's frontman, Les Emmerson, and popularized the relatively unknown band, who recorded it for their true first album, Good-byes and Butterflies, in 1970. The LP Five Man Electrical Band had begun as a Staccatos album with Brian Rading, the band's bassist suggesting the band's new name from the song title.
"Smokin' in the Boys Room" is a song originally recorded by Brownsville Station in 1973 on their album Yeah!. It reached number 3 in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was later certified by the RIAA.
"Saturday Night" is a song recorded by the Scottish pop rock band Bay City Rollers. It was written and produced by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. The tune is an upbeat rock number with a memorable hook, in which the word "Saturday" is spelled out in a rhythmic, enthusiastic chant.
"Tell Me a Lie" is a song composed by Mickey Buckins and Barbara Wyrick. Originally recorded by Lynn Anderson for her 1974 What a Man My Man Is album, it was released later that same year as a single by Sami Jo Cole, who took it to number 21 on both of the major U.S. pop charts. It also charted in Canada (#17). Cole's version was also an Adult Contemporary hit, reaching number 14 in the U.S. and number 27 in Canada.
"Montego Bay" is a song co-written and performed by Bobby Bloom about the city in Jamaica of the same name. The song was a top ten hit for Bloom in the Fall of 1970 on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 5 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart, No. 7 on the Australian Go-Set Singles Chart and No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song was co-written and produced by Jeff Barry. In the master tape of the song, Bloom breaks into a chorus of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" at the end of the recording. The song features a whistler, as well as Jamaican instruments in a calypso style.
"More Love" is a 1967 hit single recorded by the American soul group The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes's 1980 cover of the song reached the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.
"Sunshine" is a country folk song from 1971 by Jonathan Edwards, released as the first single from his debut album Jonathan Edwards. The single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 15, 1972, and earned a gold record.
"Keep on Singing" is a 1973 song composed by Danny Janssen and Bobby Hart, and was originally recorded by Austin Roberts from the album Austin Roberts. It was released as a single on Chelsea Records and reached No. 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 39 on the Cash Box Top 100. In Canada it reached # 79. "Keep on Singing" was best known as a hit single by Helen Reddy in 1974.
"Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is a song written by Neil Sedaka. The song was first recorded by Sedaka and appeared as a track on his 1975 studio album, The Hungry Years. The following year the song was made popular when covered by the pop music duo Captain & Tennille, who took their version to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Love Ballad" is a song by R&B/Funk band L.T.D. Jeffrey Osborne is the lead singer.
"Sweet City Woman" is a 1971 song by Canadian rock band The Stampeders, appearing on their debut album Against the Grain. It features a banjo as a primary instrument, which is also mentioned in the lyrics: "The banjo and me, we got a feel for singing."
"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwriters was "Never My Love". Recorded by dozens of notable artists in the decades since, in 1999 the music publishing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) announced it was the second most-played song on radio and television of the 20th century in the U.S.
"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" is a song written by Joe South, who had a hit with it in 1970. South was also producer and arranger of the track and of its B-side, "Shelter." The single was credited to "Joe South and the Believers"; the Believers included his brother Tommy South and his sister-in-law Barbara South.
"Amos Moses" is a song written and recorded by American musician Jerry Reed. It was released in October 1970 as the fourth and final single from the album Georgia Sunshine and was his highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, bowing in at No.97 on October 31, 1970, and peaking at No.8 on February 27 and March 6, 1971. It has been used ever since as a line dance taught at YMCAs. "Amos Moses" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the RIAA. It was No.28 on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971 and also appeared on several other countries' charts.
"Do I Love You" is a song co-written and recorded by Paul Anka, from his 1972 eponymous LP. Released as an advance single in late 1971, "Do I Love You" reached number 14 on the Easy Listening Singles charts of both the U.S. and Canada, number 16 on the Canadian Pop chart, and was a modest hit on the U.S. Hot 100 as well. As with the earlier "My Way", it was adapted from a French-language song popularized by Claude François, and Anka composed the English lyrics.
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"Memories" is a 1968 song originally recorded by Elvis Presley.
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