Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. ~ Isaiah 7:14
Christmas Song Lyrics Compiled by Charles P. Scott
Snoopy vs the Red Baron
(Snoopy’s Christmas)
Song by the Royal Guardsmen
Lyrics
The news had come out in the First World War.
The bloody Red Baron was flying once more.
The Allied command ignored all of its men,
And called on Snoopy to do it again.
Was the night before Christmas, 40 below,
When Snoopy went up in search of his foe.
He spied the Red Baron, fiercely they fought.
With ice on his wings Snoopy knew he was caught.
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Rang out from the land.
Asking peace of all the world,
And good will to man.
The Baron had Snoopy dead in his sights.
He reached for the trigger to pull it up tight.
Why he didn't shoot, well, we'll never know,
Or was it the bells from the village below.
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land.
Bringing peace to all the world,
And good will to man.
The Baron made Snoopy fly to the Rhine,
And forced him to land behind the enemy lines.
Snoopy was certain that this was the end,
When the Baron cried out, "Merry Christmas, my friend!"
The Baron then offered a holiday toast,
And Snoopy, our hero, saluted his host.
Then with a roar they were both on their way,
Each knowing they'd meet on some other day.
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land.
Bringing peace to all the world,
And good will to man.
About This Song
A followup to their earlier hit "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron", the song is a fictional account of how Snoopy was directed to go out and fight the Red Baron on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve. The Baron has Snoopy at his mercy after a long dogfight, but instead of shooting him down he forces Snoopy to land and offers Snoopy a chivalrous holiday toast. Afterward, Snoopy and the Red Baron fly their separate ways, "each knowing they'd meet on some other day".
The release begins with a chorus singing "O Tannenbaum" ("O Christmas Tree"). The middle of the song is bridged by chimes ringing out a phrase from "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". The chimes can also can be heard during the fade-out at the end of the song. The album version of the song has a simulated radio news report of failed efforts at a Christmas truce, leading to Snoopy being sent out to hunt his sworn foe.
The song references the 1914 "Christmas truce" of World War I which was initiated not by German and British commanders, but by the soldiers themselves. The length of the cease-fire varied by location, and was reported to have been as brief as Christmas Day or as long as the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Trench-bound combatants exchanged small gifts across the lines, with Germans giving beer to the British, who sent tobacco and tinned meat back in return. No Man's Land was cleared of dead bodies, trenches were repaired and drained, and troops from both sides shared pictures of their families and, in some places, used No Man's Land for friendly games of football. The song even has the initiator correct as it was generally the German soldiers who called over to the British and initiated the truce and, in the song, it is the Red Baron, a German WWI hero, who extends the hand of Christmas friendship to Snoopy.
