AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Royal Guardsman

Artist:The Royal Guardsmen

Song:Snoopy vs The Red Baron

Album:The Best of the Royal Guardsmen

The novelty song Snoopy vs The Red Baron was a top five hit in 1966. It was the only big hit for the band The Royal Guardsmen. Some of their other songs charted so they are not a one hit wonder. But most will only remember Snoopy vs The Red Baron. Unlike many novelty songs, The Royal Guardsmen were a real band from Ocala, FL. At first they were called The Posmen. But they were influenced by The British Invasion to change the band name to The Royal Guardsmen. The band members were Barry Winslow on lead vocals and guitar, Chris Nunley on vocals, Tom Richards on guitar, Billy Taylor on organ, Bill Balogh on bass and John Burdett on drums. Leonard Stogel became their manager and he got them a record deal with Laurie Records. After releasing a single that went nowhere, producer Phil Gernhard got an idea from the band name The Royal Guardsmen. At the time in the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy imagined himself as a WWI airman battling The Red Baron. Gernhard recalled that his songwriter pal Dick Holler had written a song called The Red Baron in 1962. It was supposed to be similar to the Johnny Horton hit Sink the Bismark. No one would release it. Gernhard thought that if they rewrote the song and made it about Snoopy vs The Red Baron, it could be a hit. They took this new song to Stogel and he convinced The Royal Guardsman to record it. Snoopy vs The Red Baron reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Dec. 1966. The Monkees' I'm a Believer topped the charts at the time. The record sold three million copies. It got so big that Laurie had to farm the record out to Capitol Records. Unfortunately, they forgot to get the approval of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and United Feature Syndicate (UFS). UFS sued and they got all the royalties. Schulz did allow them to record other Peanuts songs. So the 1967 album Return of the Red Baron has mostly Peanuts related songs. The single Return of the Red Baron was a top 20 hit. This comp released by EMI Australia is available on CD. The Royal Guardsman released four albums and then split up in 1970. They have reunited a few times but nothing permanent. Gernhard and Holler went on to write and produce the 1968 Dion hit Abraham, Martin and John. And Gernhard produced the 1971 single Me and You and a Dog Named Boo by Kent "Lobo" Lavoie. Here's The Royal Guardsmen performing Snoopy vs The Red Baron 1966.