At first, it didn't look like there was a market for Dick Holler's song about the "Red Baron," the infamous German pilot who shot down dozens of planes in World War I. But then an unlikely ally came along: a cartoon dog.
Throw in a rock group of high school and college kids from Ocala, Florida, and you've got a "Story Behind the Song" like no other. Holler told the story of the 1966 smash "Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron" to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Bart Herbison: I don’t sing, but I’m going to. “10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more/ The bloody Red Baron was rollin’ up the score!” Dick Holler, one of the writers on “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron’” which is the Story Behind the Song this week. I’m gonna get back to why I sang that part in a minute, Dick, but this song had another incarnation before Snoopy was brought in as a character, right?
Dick Holler: A long time ago, there was a huge hit record called “The Battle of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton. He was a country and pop singer and it went number one. Three months later, he had a song called ‘Sink the Bismarck’, which went top ten. These were both recapitulations of war time. So, I’m thinking of how I have always been an airplane fanatic and my favorite fighter pilot was Manfred Von Richthofen, the "Red Baron’"I wrote the song about him. No Snoopy. We went down to Cosmo’s in New Orleans and recorded it, and spent all day putting in airplane sounds and machine gun bullets and took it around to every major label. Nobody wanted to put it out, so it sat on the shelf for three years. And then one Sunday, (“Peanuts” creator) Charles Schulz introduced Snoopy flying in the doghouse, being chased by the Red Baron.
BH: I’ll bet a giant lightbulb went off over your head!
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DH: Gerhard, my producer got the idea. We put it together and had a group of high school and college kids from Ocala, Florida called The Royal Guardsmen, who Phil had signed to his label. They weren’t doing anything except local dances. They went to the Charles Fuller studio in Tampa, Florida and recorded what became “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron.” The part you just sang was lip-synced by Leonardo DiCaprio in the recent movie, “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.” He sang the part you sang.
BH: I want to talk about how big this thing got so quickly. It was everywhere. It was in every country, in every format. It was massive. I doubt, in that era, if there was even a Beatles song played more globally than this song was played.”
DH: I was paid for six million sales, which mean it probably did about 20.
BH: That’s in (45 rpm) singles, right?
DH: Singles, yes.
BH: Wow. I had it, the record. Charles Shulz let you use it though! That surprises me.
DH: Yeah, and he did not want to. Schulz did not like us or our songs. He wouldn’t even give us any artwork until we successfully had four singles and two albums, and finally he let us use artwork and actually drew one cover for us featuring the band and Snoopy. But no, he did not like us at all, even though we sold more records than he did from his Broadway show, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and all of those albums that Vince Guaraldi put out for the television show. We sold more records than all of those people combined.
BH: Did the popularity of the song surprise you?
DH: You know, I don’t know. The first phone call I got, that song was recorded without my knowledge. It was after the fact that I found out about it. So, Phil, who was still the producer. He called me up and said that he had been trying to find me for two months and it looked like I would have a hit record. So, I said, Oh great. I thought he had re-released my original song about the Red Baron, but then he explained what was going on. I gave up my job. At the time, I was playing music in North Carolina. He said, “I want you to come to Florida and work with me on the production.” That’s what I did. I was involved in all the Snoopy songs one way or another.
About the series
In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the "Story Behind the Song" video interview series features Nashville-connected songwriters discussing one of their compositions. For full video interviews with all of our subjects, visitwww.tennessean.com/music.
