Sunday, December 7, 2008

Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron - Ganjalasta Kajahtaa


In the aftermath of Independence Day and after seeing the war movie "Tuntematon sotilas" (Unknown soldier) for the umpteenth time. this song might well fit in. Pirkka-Pekka Petelius (see previous entry) recorded "Ganjalasta Kajahtaa" (Big noise from Ganjala) in 1993. I guess it must be one of those RUI -records (Recorded Under Influece). Otherwise I cannot understand the parallels between Finnish Marshall of War Mannerheim and Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and references to drugs (Ganja). But perhaps this great reggae version called for those kind of ingredients. BTW, Pirkka-Pekka played one of those unknown soldiers in a later adaption of the above-mentioned movie. The original is this time coming from USA. Royal Guardsmen had a huge hit with "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" in 1966. It's a novelty song about the imaginary World War I antics of Charlie Brown's pet beagle in the Charles Schulz' comic strip Peanuts. The Royal Guardsmen were a rock band from Florida the band adopted their Anglophile name during the British Invasion of the Beatles and others. They achieved their fame with this song, their first single. Snoopy, the Red Baron, and aircraft became a recurring theme in their later songs. Royal Guardsmen are currently experiencing a renewal and have recorded a new Snoopy song, "Snoopy vs. Osama"!

p.s. as requested - I've added the Kontra's version.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eikös tähän kuuluisi myös Kontran Ressu ja punainen paroni?
Se kai suomessa, on se tunnetumpi.

DM said...

Jep. Lisätään Kontran versio tuota pikaa ...

Anonymous said...
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peppe said...

Entiedä saako näin vanhoja kirjoituksia enää kommentoida, mutta löysin blogin vasta nyt. Todellakin selityksenä tuolle ganjalalle lienee että The Hot Shots on levyttänyt kappaleesta reggae version vuonna 1971, jonka fiilistä PPP:kin selkeästi tavoittelee.