Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (song)

"Snoopy vs. the Red Baron"
Single by The Royal Guardsmen
from the album Snoopy and His Friends
B-side "I Needed You" (non-LP track)
Released November 1966
Recorded Charles Fuller Productions studio, Tampa, Florida
Genre Rock, novelty
Label Laurie
LR 3366
Writer(s) Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler
Producer(s) Phil Gernhard and John Brumage

"Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" is a novelty song written by Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler and recorded in 1966 by the Florida-based pop group The Royal Guardsmen. The song was recorded at the Charles Fuller Productions studio in Tampa, Florida and was released as a single on Laurie Records. Bowing at #122 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 on December 10, 1966, the single ascended from number 7 to number 2 on the Hot 100 during the week of December 31, 1966 (behind the Monkees' "I'm a Believer"); made number 6 on the Record Retailer (UK) chart in February 1967;[1] and was number one in Australia for five weeks from February 1967. On the Hot 100, "Believer" at #1 kept "Snoopy" at #2 from reaching the Hot 100 summit from December 31, 1966 through January 21, 1967, after which "Snoopy" fell off while "Believer" stayed at the top for another three weeks.

The Royal Guardsmen went on to record several other Snoopy-themed songs, including two follow-ups to "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" – "The Return of the Red Baron" and "Snoopy's Christmas" – together with other tunes such as "Snoopy for President".[2] In 2006 they released "Snoopy vs Osama".[3]

Background

"Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" was inspired by the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz, which featured a recurring storyline of Snoopy imagining himself in the role of a World War I airman fighting the Red Baron. The song was released approximately one year after the first comic strip featuring Snoopy fighting the Red Baron appeared on Sunday October 10, 1965. Schulz and United Features Syndicate sued the Royal Guardsmen for using the name Snoopy without permission or an advertising license. (The Guardsmen, meanwhile, hedged their bets by recording an alternative version of the song, called "Squeaky vs. the Black Knight"; some copies of this version were issued by Laurie Records in Canada.[4]) UFS won the suit, the penalty being that all publishing revenues from the song would go to them. Schulz did allow the group to write more Snoopy songs.

The song begins with a background commentary in faux German: "Achtung! Jetzt wir singen zusammen die Geschichte über den Schweinköpfigen Hund und den lieben Red Baron," which is a purposeful mistranslation of the English: "Attention! We will now sing together the story of that pig-headed dog [Snoopy] and the beloved Red Baron"[5] and features the sound of a German sergeant counting off in ones ("eins, zwei, drei, vier", after the first verse), and an American sergeant counting off in fours (after the second verse); a fighter plane; machine guns; and a plane in a tailspin (at the end of the last verse). From 1:46 to 1:54 the song quotes a variant of the instrumental chords from The McCoys' version of "Hang On Sloopy". In the original recording of "Snoopy", the lyrics "Hang on Snoopy, Snoopy hang on" were sung at this point. This tactic led to some initial speculation that the Guardsmen were the McCoys under a different name. Prior to release, these lyrics were removed to prevent copyright issues.

Other releases and cover versions

A rare promotional record (only 1000 were pressed, labelled "Omnimedia") for the advertising arm of Charles Fuller Productions included the removed lyrics "Hang on Sloopy". It is a two-sided 7" that plays at 33-1/3 RPM.

The song was featured as a cover version on a children's album of the same name in the early 1970s by The Peter Pan Pop Band & Singers.[6]

In 1973, a group called The Hotshots reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of the song, performed in a ska style.[7]

In 1967, Italian singer Giorgio Gaber recorded an Italian version of this song, "Snoopy contro il Barone Rosso". He also recorded a Spanish version, "Snoopy contra el Barón Rojo", with lyrics very similar to his Italian version.

Also in 1967, Spanish band Los Mustang recorded a different version in Spanish, also titled "Snoopy contra el Barón Rojo", with different lyrics from Gaber's version.

Also in 1967, Brazilian singer Ronnie Von recorded a version, "Soneca Contra O Barão Vermelho", Snoopy then being known in Brazil as either Xereta ("snoopy" in Portuguese) or Soneca ("snooze") in local editions of the Schulz comic strip.

In 1990 the song was recorded by Playtown Sound Audio Services and performed by Bert Southwood.

The song inspired the title of Kim Newman's novel The Bloody Red Baron (1995). The book features both the Red Baron and Snoopy, though the latter is deliberately unnamed in order to avoid copyright issues.

Phil Gernhard's other songs

Phil Gernhard, the joint composer of "Snoopy", had previously produced the original version of "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, and later became the producer of singer-songwriter Lobo. Dick Holler's other big writing success, a notably marked contrast of styles to "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron", was the tribute song "Abraham, Martin & John", a 1968 hit for Dion.

References

  1. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 473. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ↑ Pore-Lee-Dunn Productions. "Royal Guardsmen". Classicbands.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  3. ↑ "'Snoopy vs. Osama' by Ocala's The Royal Guardsmen". Tampa Bay Times. May 2, 2011.
  4. ↑ joeknapp (2009-12-16). "MusicMaster Oldies: Squeaky vs The Black Knight ???". Musicmasteroldies.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  5. ↑ "Ocala's Royal Guardsmen head to Las Vegas for end of summer bash". Ocala.com. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  6. ↑ "Peter Pan Pop Band Singers - "Snoopy Vs The Red Baron"". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  7. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 260. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
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