"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s counterculture era anti-war song written by

Dennis Lambert Dennis Earle Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was w ...

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 ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

'' charts, hit the number 1 position on CHUM AM in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

on 27 December 1969, 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. 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 ''Billy Jack'' is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie ''The Born Losers'' (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the scri ...

''. The single went to number 26 on the ''Billboard'' pop chartCasey Kasem's American Top 40 - The 70s from November 27, 1971 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 Skeeter Davis (born Mary Frances Penick; December 30, 1931September 19, 2004) was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's " The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis S ...

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. Davis received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal.

Harmony

"One Tin Soldier" has been said to have the same harmonic base as

Pachelbel's Canon Pachelbel's Canon (also known as the Canon in D, P 37) is an accompanied canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue, known as ''Canon and ...

. The intro is pulled directly from "Canon in D" with the first 7 chords of "One Tin Soldier" matching those of "Canon in D". However, the two pieces diverge at the 8th chord and 8th 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.

Lyrics synopsis

"One Tin Soldier" describes the story of a fictional Kingdom located on a mountain possessing a treasure. The neighboring faction from the mountain's valley becomes envious of the treasure, and requests to reclaim it for themselves, suspecting it may be gold. The Kingdom refuses their request and insists that it would only be redistributed to its subjects. The people of the valley proceed to invade the Kingdom and kill everyone to seize the treasure. Once the treasure was located, it was revealed that it was in actuality a boulder inscribed with "peace on earth" on the bottom, implying the invasion was pointless.

Coven version

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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

film ''

.'' 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. The full Coven band then re-recorded the song for their self-titled

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

album, which displayed the band members' whited-out faces on the cover, contrived by the film's producer

Tom Laughlin Thomas Robert Laughlin Jr. (August 10, 1931 – December 12, 2013) was an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator, and activist. Laughlin was best known for his series of ''Billy Jack'' films. He was married to actress D ...

. 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.

Chart history

; The Original Caste ; Coven cover ; Skeeter Davis cover ; Coven (2nd charting) ; Coven (3rd charting)

Other recordings

A version recorded by Guy Chandler (titled "One Tin Soldier he 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 John David Wilson (8 August 1919 – 20 June 2013) was an English artist, animator and producer. He owned his own production studio, Fine Arts Films Fine Arts Films was a production studio based in Northern England and Hollywood. It was found ...

was produced for ''

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

''.

Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and former presidential candidate. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (1988–1 ...

parodied the song on her 1990 album ''I Enjoy Being a Girl''. Delores Laughlin, sung 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 Billy Strings (born William Lee Apostol, October 3, 1992) is an American guitarist and bluegrass musician. He won a Grammy Award in 2021. Early life Billy Strings was born William Lee Apostol on October 3, 1992, in Lansing, Michigan. His fat ...

, Mad Parade, Gimp,

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (often shortened to just Me First or the Gimmes) are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, Fat Mike, Joey Cape, and Dave Raun. C ...

, Bushman, and Killdozer. Actress

Brittany Murphy Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Fras ...

, in character as Luanne Platter, sang the song on the ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'' soundtrack. This song was also covered by Voices for Peace, a band consisting of a group of voice actors including

Greg Ayres Greg Ayres is an American voice actor who works on a number of English versions of Japanese anime series at ADV Films, Funimation and Sentai Filmworks. He voiced Hideki in '' Nerima Daikon Brothers'', Koyuki Tanaka in '' Beck: Mongolian Chop Sq ...

and

Tiffany Grant Tiffany Lynn Grant (born October 11, 1968) is an American voice actress and script writer who is known for her English-dubbing work for ADV Films on such anime films and television series as ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', in which she voiced the cha ...

. 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.

References