Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below

On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone
And the valley-people swore
They'd have it for their very own

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill

It came an answer from the mountain
With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain
All the riches buried there

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

Now the valley cried with anger
"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!"
And they killed the mountain-people
So they won their just reward

Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain, dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
"Peace on Earth" was all it said

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away


Lyrics submitted by SurfingHobo

One Tin Soldier Lyrics as written by Brian Potter Dennis Earle Lambert

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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One Tin Soldier song meanings
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    General Comment

    I'm very well aware the song is a fable, and it's a powerfully emotional one. Lambert and Potter did a fine job of marrying the lyrics to a melody suitable to the passion of their lyrics.

    But besides being shamelessly manipulative, the moral hangs by one skinny thread: The Mountain People are complete idiots. Let us get this straight: Your valley counterparts are psychos propelled by avarice to slaughter for fortune. The sum total of the Mountain People's "treasure" is a big ol' rock that reads "Peace On Earth" on the bottom or inscribed in the earth. Now, setting aside questions like...

    • "Why did they feel the need to hide the inscription under a rock? Who exactly was going to steal it?"
    • "Why couldn't they just carve it into the rock itself, or paint it all over their houses- Hell, blaze the slogan on your t-shirts!" ... why did they play coy with a group of angry people who were "Asking for the buried treasure; Tons of gold for which they'd kill"? Did they have a DEATH WISH? A MARTYR COMPLEX?

    It seems to me that all they had to do was let the Valley People come up the hill, turn over the rock and say, "That's it. That's the treasure." Then they could let the Valley People search to their hearts' content- yeah, out of line and invasive, but the alternative was the slaughter of their village. SO- THE "REAL" MORAL OF THE STORY IS THIS: Don't play coy with psychos.

    BurningOldSageon June 14, 2018   Link

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