Snoopy vs the Red Baron - Royal Guardsmen, The (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Snoopy vs the Red Baron (Royal Guardsmen, The, 1966). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2024-03-06. "Keeping the Oldies & Classics Alive"

"Snoopy vs the Red Baron," written by Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler, was The Royal Guardsmen's first release and their first entry onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart rising to no. 2 in 1966 (Whitburn, 2013). Due to possible copyright issues and the possibility of a lawsuit, they decided to record the song with alternate lyrics just in case they were unable to secure the rights to use the Snoopy references, and instead used "Squeaky vs the Black Knight" (Songfacts, 2024); Squeaky was a bucktooth beaver. Co-writer Dick Holler stated that "Peanuts/Snoopy" creator, Charles Schultz, was initially against the band using Snoopy in the song; he didn't like the song and he didn't like the group (D. Paulson, Nashville Tennessean, Oct 22, 2020); however, according to an interview with author David Manning White in 1975, Charles Schultz said "'We threatened to put a stop to (the record) until we were included in the success.' The band never met Snoopy's creator, though Chris says, 'We heard through our label (Laurie) and producer that Charles Schultz liked our songs'" (songfacts, 2024). Barry Winslow, lead vocalist and guitarist, once remarked that "It was probably Charles Schulz's lawyers that did the suing. I don't think Charles really cared either way" (J. Osborne, tampabay, Jan. 22, 2005); "His lawyers smelled money and, whether Charles cared or not, the lawyers put a ding in us!" (E. Tucker, crazedfanboy, 2006). Regardless, Winslow said that Schulz eventually allowed the use of Snoopy in the song, advertising, album cover art, and so on after being paid a "pretty healthy chunk of money" (J. Osborne, tampabay, Jan. 22, 2005). As an aside, "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' (Wikipedia, 2024).

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Lyrics:

After the turn of the century
In the clear blue skies over Germany
Came a roar and a thunder men had never heard
Like the screamin' sound of a big war bird

Up in the sky, a man in a plane
Baron von Richthofen was his name
Eighty men tried, and eighty men died
Now they're buried together on the countryside

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

In the nick of time, a hero arose
A funny-looking dog with a big black nose
He flew into the sky to seek revenge
But the Baron shot him down ("Curses, foiled again!")

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

Now, Snoopy had sworn that he'd get that man
So he asked the Great Pumpkin for a new battle plan
He challenged the German to a real dogfight
While the Baron was laughing, he got him in his sight

That Bloody Red Baron was in a fix
He'd tried everything, but he'd run out of tricks
Snoopy fired once, and he fired twice
And that Bloody Red Baron went spinning out of sight

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany