“One Tin Soldier” (The Original Caste/Coven/Skeeter Davis/Cher)

Today’s classic song of the day was a hit, sort of, for two different groups and a couple of different singers. The song is “One Tin Soldier” and you probably know it from that 1971 cult classic film, Billy Jack, no matter who was singing it.

“One Tin Soldier” was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who together and separately wrote hits for Gayle McCormick (“It’s a Cryin’ Shame“); Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (“Don’t Pull Your Love”); the Grass Roots (“Two Divided by Love”); the Four Tops (“Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got),” “Keeper of the Castle,” “Are You Man Enough”), Tavares (“It Only Takes a Minute”), the Commodores (“Night Shift”), Glen Campbell (“Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)”), and Starship (“We Built This City“). It was originally recorded by a Canadian group called the Original Caste; that version, released in November of 1969, only hit #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 but went to #6 on Canada’s RPM Top Singles chart.

In 1971, Jinx Dawson, the lead singer for a band named Coven, recorded the song (with a group of studio musicians) for the soundtrack for Tom Laughlin’s film Billy Jack. Ms. Dawson insisted that her band, Coven, be listed on the soundtrack listing, even though she was the only member on the recording. That version, now titled “One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)” was released as a single in September of 1971 and hit #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #16 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.

The Coven/movie version of “One Tin Soldier” was remarkably similar to the original version by the Original Caste in terms of instrumentation and arrangement, at a slightly faster tempo. Both used flutes and a snare drum with a marching beat in the intro and outro, and both based that intro on the initial chords in Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D. A casual listener might have trouble recognizing the differences between the two.

Just to confuse matters further, Coven (the entire band, this time) re-recorded and re-released the song in 1973 for the MGM label; this version only went to #79 on the Hot 100. At about the same time, the original Original Caste recording was also re-released, but only in Canada; this version went to #45 on the Canadian RPM chart. That same Original Caste recording was re-re-released in 1974 in both Canada and the U.S., hitting #79 on the Canadian RPM chart and #73 on the U.S. Billboard chart.

And that’s not even counting the slightly countrified version that Skeeter Davis released in 1972. That version went to #4 on the Canadian RPM Country chart and #54 on the U.S. Billboard Country chart. Whew!

You may also remember an animated video for “One Tin Soldier” that animator John David Wilson did for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1972. That version was sung by Cher herself on their Christmas show (with “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” as a lead in), so that’s another variation to keep track of.

Which version of “One Tin Soldier” you remember probably depends on where you lived at the time. I firmly remember hearing the Coven version on Indianapolis radio stations, probably because Coven was a Chicago band whose lead singer, Jinx Dawson, had strong Indy connections. (For what it’s worth, Coven was really into the whole coven and witchcraft thing; think of them as a proto-Goth band a decade or so ahead of their time.)

With all those versions of “One Tin Soldier” to choose from, which do you remember? I’m a Coven (original soundtrack recording) fan myself, but that’s probably because that’s the version I heard first. What about you?