One Tin Soldier - The Legend of Billy Jack

"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.

"One Tin Soldier" tells the abstract story of a hidden treasure and two neighboring peoples, the Mountain People and the Valley People. 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 decided to take it all by force. After killing all the Mountain People, the victors move the stone and find nothing more than a simple message: "Peace on Earth." Ironically, the valley people destroyed the treasure in pursuit of it.


The Billy Jack connection:
Jinx Dawson of the band Coven sang the song at a 1971 session with the film's orchestra as part of the soundtrack for the Warner Brothers movie Billy Jack. Jinx 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 #17 on Billboard's Hot 100 in fall 1971, only to be pulled from the charts as it was moving up by the Billy Jack film producers due to legal squabbles over the rights to the recording. The full Coven band then reluctantly re-recorded the song for their MGM album. Thus the MGM album containing a second version of this song displayed their whited-out faces on the cover, contrived again by the film's producer Tom Laughlin. The recording then hit the charts again in both 1973 and 1974 near the end of the Vietnam War and the release of the film The Trial of Billy Jack. The Coven recording was named Number One All Time Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by the American Radio Broadcasters Association. A slightly different version recorded by Guy Chandler (titled "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)") charted in summer 1973 (Wikipedia).

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[terpsichoreankat]

Great posting. Is it Coven on One Tin Soldier? Thx for putting this up =^..^*=

[deafsubtitles]

@terpsichoreankat FOR the movie it was really the lead singer only from Coven. Check wiki for more details. Thanks.

[TheBigflippers]

Great Movie and song. Much like the modern anti-fascist movie "V" this movie illustrates that the very worst kinds of people manipulate themselves into positions of power over others and such power is exercised with vindictiveness and cruelty.

[deafsubtitles]

@TheBigflippers Conservatives, yes, except if they were Liberal, right?

[jeff62rey]

Why is acceptance of people simply for the 'heart mind and soul inside them, respect and tolerance of God given differences so elusive when they are the only catalysts of true change which can make any real difference in this sad, jaded and abusive world?.

[deafsubtitles]

@jeff62rey Huh?

[ldy1va]

for those of you that are  NOT getting the message behind the movie watch again pay CLOSE attention and then look at the world the way it is today, The government greed and cover ups are still there the hatred and intolerance are still there. AND sadly the love and brotherhood for each other despite our differences is still NOT there.

[sirjames45]

I like the song very much.  The movie was great too. That being said, I am still sad and disgusted that the Hippies response to communism was to just let millions be enslaved, and do nothing about it, while denigrating those who fought SO bravely for FREEDOM and LIBERTY.

[aehammill]

@Americanrevolution02 dumbass. and btw, intercontinental would be an appropriate term for the railway. look up the definition sea lawyer.

[atfatw]

a big hit with very very very immature teenagers

[damadmacman1]

tha acting sucks ... but i like the song...

[ShellTrek]

@jeff62rey The Moving Pictures was really pretty!

[leeleelove2298]

Just got done watching the movie... My uncle gave my mom the 4 disk Billy Jack movie set on DVD 4 Christmas n I got to watch The Legend of Billy Jack 4 the second time it's great, powerful and I wish people in this day in age cared,as much as Billy Jack does, for their neighbors.

[Hister333]

I would be happy if they'd just make ONE money instead of three. Are we watching a "Man With No Name" flick (I'm fine with that). Or is this about a "Wounded Knee" style Indian Reservation? Or is it a "school" which specializes in Howard Hesseman doing bits so lousy he must've pulled them from Cheech and Chong's trash can?