Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (song)

Snoopy vs. the Red Baron is a novelty song, released in 1966 by The Royal Guardsmen, a pop group which (despite its name) has no affiliation with the United Kingdom (the group is based in Ocala, Florida).

The song is a play on a recurring theme in the Peanuts comic strip, where Snoopy imagines himself as a World War I flying ace, flying his "Sopwith Camel" (his doghouse) into battle against the famed German ace the Red Baron. Unlike the strip (where he is repeatedly defeated, muttering "Curses! Foiled Again!"), in the song he manages to shoot down his opponent.

The group would be sued by United Features Syndicate (the owner of the Peanuts strip) for unauthorized use of the "Snoopy" name; they won the suit with the condition that all publishing revenues would go to them. Charles Schulz (the Peanuts creator) would allow the group to release additional songs using Snoopy's character.

The group would release two additional songs continuing the theme: "The Return of the Red Baron" (the Red Baron, stuck on the ground trying to fix his plane, tried but failed to take out Snoopy) and "Snoopy's Christmas" (the Red Baron forces Snoopy behind enemy lines, but in a scene reminiscent of the WWI Christmas Truce, toasts his opponent before allowing him to fly home).