Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron

Infobox Single
Name = Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist = The Royal Guardsmen
from Album =
A-side =
B-side =
Released = 1966
Format =
Recorded = Charles Fuller Productions studio, Tampa, Florida
Genre = Rock, Novelty
Length =
Label = Laurie RecordsLR 3366
Writer = Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler
Producer = [Phil Gernhard and John Brumage
Certification =
Chart position =
* #2 Pop
* #6 UK
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Misc ="Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" is a novelty song written by Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler and recorded in 1966 by the Florida-based rock band 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. The single made number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of December 31, 1966, number 6 on the UK charts in February 1967 and number one in Australia for five weeks from February 1967.

"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 Royal Guardsmen went on to record several other Snoopy-themed songs, including "Return of The Red Baron" and "Snoopy for President". [http://www.classicbands.com/royalguardsmen.html]

"Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" was released only four weeks after the first Sunday Peanuts comic strip featuring Snoopy fighting the Red Baron appeared. Mr. Schulz and United Features Syndicate sued the Royal Guardsmen for using the name Snoopy without permission or an advertising license. UFS won the suit; the penalty was that all of the publishing revenues from the song would go to them. Mr. Schulz did allow the group to write more Snoopy songs.

The original Canadian single was retitled "Squeaky Vs. The Black Knight" to avoid legal issues but the change was met with immediate protest demonstrations.

In the Austrailian airplay version, the word "bloody" was censored.

Phil Gernhard had previously produced the original version of "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, and later became the producer of singer-songwriter Lobo. 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.

In 1973, a group called Hotshots reached number 4 in the UK singles chart with a cover version of the song, performed in a ska style.