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 judgement 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.
Came an answer from the kingdom,
"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 judgement 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 judgement 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 judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.
"The Original Caste" was started as the "North Country Singers" in 1966. They changed their name to "The Original Caste" in 1969.
Bruce Innes (Leader-E.Guitar-Vocal), Dixie Lee Stone-Innes (Lead Vocal), Bliss Mackie (Acoustic Guitar-Vocal), Graham Bruce (E.Bass-Vocal), Peter Brown (Drum).
The Canadian pop group "Original Caste" first recorded the song in 1969.
The track briefly reached limited popularity locally but never broke into the larger US and World charts.
The song tells the abstract story of a hidden treasure and two feuding people (the Mountain People and the Valley People) to describe how inhumane some people can be when greed is involved.
In 1971 it became the sound track (recorded by the group “Coven”) for the movie "Billy Jack."