“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. The single made number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (US) chart during the week of December 31, 1966; number 6 on the Record Retailer (UK) chart in February 1967; and number one in Australia for five weeks from February 1967. (More from Wikipedia)
The Royal Guardsmen had a million seller in 1966 with “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”; I guess I have been reminded of it since the local paper has been running some of the “Classic” Peanuts comic strips featuring Snoopy riding his Sopwith Camel into combat, always with the battle cry: “Curse You, Red Baron!”
The Red Baron was a real person – Manfred von Richtofen, who is credited with 80 air victories during the First World War – and his name is referenced in the song (though never in the comic strip as far as I know). The Royal Guardsmen followed that hit with “The Return of the Red Baron” and “Snoopy’s Christmas” and managed to release four albums with Snoopy/aircraft themes in the mid-1960’s, which also featured other novelty songs that had been released earlier by different bands. They had other original songs as well; their first single, “Baby Let’s Wait” eventually made the Top 40 when it was re-released after the “Snoopy” hits.
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The Miss Winston-Salem Pageant itself was enjoyable enough – my first and last attendance at one of those – and while I didn’t know Miss Winston-Salem herself, Miss Congeniality that year was a friend of mine, Karen Nielsen. But then the Royal Guardsmen took the stage; and somehow, they had morphed into a really nasty punk rock band! They were rocking the house down as far as I was concerned, but you could even see from the audience that the Pageant promoters had no idea who they had hired; and they were scrambling to try to get the concert cut short. After around four songs, the Royal Guardsmen were told to do their hit song and beat it; and even that performance of “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron” was unlike anything I had expected: At one point, it sounded like there was cannon going off! As far as I know, this incarnation of the Royal Guardsmen never made any records, but I have sure looked hard for them over the years.
