"One Hit Wonders" Daily Trivia

I think this is the version I'm familiar with, the one posted above doesn't sound quite right to me:

 

Tin star for #264. If I've got it right.

 

Tin Star for #264...but little confidence

 

That must be the version from the movie.

 

I don't know the back story about Coven's "One Tin Soldier." I only know that it's a vastly inferior version when compared with the first hit by The Original Caste. The vocal is harsh and abrasive, whereas the Original Caste vocal is appealing and inviting. My memory is of the Original Caste version getting quite a lot of airplay in my market, to the point that when I heard the Coven remake, my reaction was "Why is this necessary? And why would anyone want to hear it if they already knew the Original Caste version?"

 

I know the label "My Dad" was on. (In fact, I can picture it, and I also know another artist who had a couple of hits on that label.)

I also know the hits of 1966 as well as I know any year in rock.

So why can't I come up with the answer to #264?

 

OK, it drove me nuts enough that I did some research, and I now have a Tin Star. I know the song, but didn't realize it was on the Colpix label.

 

I remember when The Trial of Billy Jack came out One Tin Soldier was used in the trailer and it had already been on the radio months before. The Billy Jack version is the shouty version.

 

Re #263:

"One Tin Soldier" has a crazy history, and as I teased earlier, most of the Internet sites have it wrong. I hope to clear it up here.

As noted already, it was first recorded by a Canadian group called The Original Caste. That name makes it sound as if it was a cash-in cover, but it really is the first version, pre-dating Billy Jack by many months.

Now, on to Coven.

Movie producer/director/writer/lead actor Tom Laughlin wanted Linda Ronstadt to cover "One Tin Soldier" for the soundtrack, as apparently the original version wasn't available for licensing. Ronstadt wasn't available, either, so Laughlin hired Jinx Dawson, lead singer of Coven and something of a Ronstadt sound-alike, to sing it. Even though she was the only member of the group on the recording, she insisted on a full group credit, which she got. This version, which appeared on the Warner Bros. soundtrack and on the first released 45 (WB 7509), is considered the hit version, as it charted first and got to #26 in Billboard (#18 in Cash Box). As was true of all versions credited to Coven, this had a subtitle, "The Legend of Billy Jack," to make it seem as if the song was written for the film, when of course it wasn't. The B-side of this release is "I Think You Always Knew (The Theme from Billy Jack)," which was not recorded by Coven or Jinx Dawson. Because the OP posted the MGM version above, here is the WB official big hit version:



The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the September 18, 1971 issue. A small bidding war for Coven, which was unsigned at the time, resulted in the band signing with MGM. The first thing MGM did when it signed Coven was to have the whole band re-record "One Tin Soldier," even using the same producer as the original version (Mundell Lowe). They also recorded a B-side called "I Guess It's a Beautiful Day Today." This was released on MGM K14308 in October 1971.

It had been Billboard policy for many years to list different versions of the same song by the same artist as two different chart entries. But, perhaps because the chart editor thought the Warner Bros. and MGM versions were the same (they clearly are not), both versions were listed together on the Hot 100 for five weeks in 1971, from October 16 through November 13. They assumed it was akin to "Wild Thing" by the Troggs, which featured the same recording on both Atco and Fontana in 1966 and thus were listed as the same entry. In 1961, "Every Beat of My Heart" by (Gladys Knight and) the Pips charted on both Vee-Jay and Fury, but were listed separately because they were two different versions. That's what should have happened with Coven.

Coven recorded a full album for MGM, which was released in early 1972. A single from the LP, "Nightingale," was released on the Lion subsidiary around the same time, and that should have marked the end of the saga of "One Tin Soldier."

But it didn't.

Contrary to Wikipedia, the song was never pulled; the entire movie and everything related to it was. And that didn't happen until after the song had run its first course; it had no bearing on its 1971 chart peak. Tom Laughlin sued Warner Bros., the film's distributor, for breach of contract; as a result, he earned all the rights to Billy Jack and its soundtrack. Laughlin figured he could do a better job getting the movie out on his own, and he did; he re-released the film in 1973 and it made three times as much the second time around as it had the first.

When the movie gained renewed attention, so did "One Tin Soldier." A cover of the song by John Kurtz, who was the first to record "Drift Away" (even before Dobie Gray), was the first to gain notice; it was co-produced by Steve Barri and the song's composers, Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, and was issued on ABC 11375. It was reviewed in the June 16, 1973 issue of Cash Box.

Rather than let a cover get the glory, MGM re-released its master of Coven's version of the song using the same catalog number as the original (K14308). This was reviewed in the June 23 Cash Box. Contrary to an erroneous article in the June 23, 1973 Billboard, this was not a re-cut; it was the same version as had been on MGM in 1971. This version debuted on (returned to?) the Hot 100 in the July 21, 1973 issue, peaking at #79 and spending six weeks on the chart.

It's not hard to tell the difference between 1971 and 1973 MGM copies of "One Tin Soldier." On the 1973 copies, the B-side's title was changed to "I Guess It's a Beautiful Day (Least I Think It Is)." Also, the 1971 copies have Michael Lloyd listed as executive producer; this credit is missing from 1973 copies.

Meanwhile, Tom Laughlin started his own record label, Billy Jack Records, to re-release the soundtrack. He also re-released the original Coven version of "One Tin Soldier" as a 45 on the Billy Jack label. This 45 has "Johnnie," sung by Teresa Kelly, on the B-side, and has a catalog number of BJS-101. It turned out that Laughlin knew how to get his movie into theaters, but had no clue about the record business; the Billy Jack Records versions of both the album and single are rarities today.

Laughlin decided to license the soundtrack and 45 back to Warner Bros. toward the end of 1973. The Warners 45 was a straight reissue of the Billy Jack 45; it even has the same catalog number except for a leading zero (BJS 0101). Now you know why the 1973 issue of the Warner Bros. single has such a strange number. (Some stock copies of the Warner Bros. 45 have the number as BJ 0101.) This version re-charted on the December 29, 1973 Hot 100; it eventually peaked at #76 and spent six weeks on the chart.

I hope this helps with the chronology of this confusing record. Along the way, several sources got things wrong, and that's why most of today's information is muddled or wrong.

 

Do you mean this is the original Warner Brothers version, sung by Jinx Dawson and credited to Coven? You're right, it's very confusing.

 

Yes. It's the one on the soundtrack album and originally on WB 7509.

 

Thanks Tim.

 

Hint for #264....When I said it was "ripe" for research, think of fruit.

 

Tin Star for #264. I'd barely heard of either the hit or the artist before!

 

After hint, sure of a Tin for 264.

 

Another hint: one half of the duo was the writer for songs in two previous questions.

I also had never heard of this duo or even the song before, although apparently, a few other artists have covered it.

 

Gold for #264...It didn't get played in the Bay Area in 1966, I only first heard it about 25 years ago and it
became a favorite.

 

This is a great thread! I just found it today.

Tin Star for #264

 

Re: #263, I read about the One Tin Soldier/Billy Jack/Jinx/Coven saga last year. I think Coven (w/Jinx) were still playing live in 2017/2018.

Again, great idea for a thread!

 

Tin star for 264. The clue helped, but I don't know why I didn't get it earlier. I skipped right over it in my earlier research.

 

And I didn't find much to contribute!

Ken Heinrich in his Miami News column included this on March 12, 1971:
"New sound drifting across the water from Nassau. It’s coming from a group called, “The Beginning of the End,” and the islanders are certain they’ll be tough competition before long for the mainland rock groups. The group was formed only a few months back and its first recording, “Funky Nassau,” is making a move. Of course it’s in first place in Nassau’s ZNS poll, but significantly it has jumped from 20th to 6th place on the WMBM popularity survey in Miami. The groups consists of three brothers: Roy, guitar; Ray, vocalist and organist; and Frank “Bud” Munnings, drums. Fred Henfield plays the bass guitar. The groups is preparing a full album which is also entitled “Funky Nassau” which will feature original songs of the Bahamas."

On May 19, 1971, Variety reported that the band was in Miami "waiting for immigration procedures to end so they can start working" on their followup to Funky Nassau. Apparently that took a little while, because Billboard reported in July that they were coming back to Criteria Sound Studios (Layla, Idlewild South/Eat A Peach, Young Gifted And Black...) to record. A month later, Billboard noted that The Beginning of the End was working in this studio with engineer Chuck Kirkpatrick.

Late that year, rock critic Robert Hilburn - no fan of junkanoo - slated the band's debut LP Funky Nassau in the Los Angeles Times:
"Since the title song was far and away one of the most monotonous singles of this or any other year (it was almost a marathon of soul music cliches), it was easy to predict the group’s followup album (unless there was a drastic change of style) was going to the the most monotonous album of the year. It is."

Hilburn also listed it as one of his least favorite singles of 1971.


September 3, 1971 Atlanta Daily World


Ad in Baltimore African American in late 1971

 

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S QUESTION.....


#264



6/16/19


A 1966 song from a duo on the same label as Paul Petersen's "My Dad". (Man, is that ripe for research)


"I Can't Grow Peaches On A Cherry Tree" / Just Us
Colpix Records #34 1966





A duo made up of songwriter Chip Taylor ("Wild Thing", "Angel Of The Morning" and more) and session musician Al Gorgoni. That is about all I could find about the duo but again it does bring up label discrepancies. The record label I posted along with the one I bought when I was 16, was Minuteman. The label that Joel Whitburn listed and the one I remember playing after I got into radio was Colpix. I assume at some point Colpix picked up the song nationally, although their album was issued on Kapp which was easily as big a label as Colpix and I believe Minuteman was not a sub of Kapp. I'm perplexed.


It has always puzzled me how an artist or group could sometimes have a megahit and we never hear from them again. Especially if they wrote it. As a final authority I'll use the Billboard Top 40 charts because that should narrow the field to songs most everyone is familiar with.In some cases, an artist could have had another minor regional hit that no one ever heard of. I know of a One Hit Wonder where the group had two other hits in the South but people on the west coast would have never heard them. I will try to make the questions somewhat difficult to attract multiple answers or guesses. Each day I will update this thread with the previous day's answer and a new question. Correct answers should contain the correct title and artist as it appeared on the record or chart.
What I found recently after starting this thread was that if someone correctly answers the question soon after it's posting, it takes away the incentive for others to participate. I don't want that to happen since this is a forum. So, let me describe how I think this can work successfully. You have five choices for initial answers...

1. If you absolutely know that you know the answer, without any doubt, simply post "GOLD STAR", and leave a comment, if you like, about the song that doesn't hint or giveaway the answer. Please come back and post your full comments and memories about the song after the answer has been posted. This is what I want to encourage the most since this is a forum.

2. If you want to confirm your initial thought and look it up, post a SILVER STAR , with the same criteria as in #1.

3. If you want to take the time to research the answer, post a TIN STAR. Same criteria as #1.

4. Post your guesses. But let us know it's a guess, meaning it may or may not be correct. Comments would be welcomed.

5. Simply post "I don't know" and leave any comments you might have.

With these choices, it gives everyone a chance to correctly answer the question early and still leave room for everyone to participate until the official answer is posted. Again, I really want to hear your comments and memories about the song/artist. Good luck and have fun !


NEW QUESTION........



#265


6/17/19



This artist was once asked to join Yes as a replacement for Rick Wakeman.




Please choose from the answer options above.

 

Fairly sure before. Damn confident now.

 

265 - Tin

 

Gold star for 265.