Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron

This is a novelty song about the imaginary World War I antics of Charlie Brown's pet beagle in the comic strip Peanuts. It spawned three sequels: "The Return of the Red Baron," "Snoopy's Christmas," and "Snoopy for President." Of the three, "The Return of the Red Baron" is the only one that hit the Hot 100 (#15), but "Snoopy's Christmas" became a seasonal favorite.

There really was a Red Baron. His name was Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (Baron Von Richthofen), and just like the lyrics state, he had 80 confirmed kills as a fighter pilot in World War I. In the song, he meets his demise when Snoopy shoots him down in a dogfight; in real life, he was fatally injured in an air battle over France, where he landed his plane in a beet field and died a short time later. The Red Baron was so respected that the Allies buried him in France with full military honors. So grand was his legend that Peanuts author Charles Schultz devised a storyline pitting him against Snoopy. His image was later used to sell frozen pizza.

The German muttering as the beginning roughly translates to: "We will now sing together the song of a pig-headed dog, and our beloved Red Baron." The band's singer Chris Nunley came up with this part and did the vocal. He was studying German in college at the time.