You probably know the Royal Guardsmen for their string of hits featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz, versus the Red Baron, the real German flying ace of World War I.
My blogger buddy Chuck Miller wrote a blog post on adjustments in pop songs. Specifically, Snoopy v the Red Baron became Squeaky vs. the Black Knight in Canada over copyright concerns.
This inspired me to play my Royal Guardsmen’s Greatest Hits album that someone gave me, a collection from Australia. But reading the liner notes, I noticed that six of the 20 songs were listed with Unknown by the composer citation.
I decided to write my old buddy John Francis Burdett, the drummer of the group, who I met online when I had blogged some years ago about a single, the much darker Snoopy v. Osama. (Post is below the links.)
He wrote:
Any Wednesday – Written by: B. Masona. Real Name: Charlie Souza, a bassist, singer songwriter and producer affiliated with worldsoundproductions.com. In Groups: Cactus, Fortress, The New Rascals, The Tropics, White Witch
I Say Love – Written By: Barry Winslow, Billy Taylor
Leaving Me – Written by: Barry Winslow
Shot Down – Written by: John McCullough, Dick Holler. “John McCullough was also our road manager on our first tour and worked w/ Dick on Phil G.’s writing team.”
Mother, Where’s Your Daughter – Written by: D. Holler
But he wasn’t certain about Searching for the Good Times, so I asked my favorite musical expert Dustbury, who ascertained that it was a guy named Bob Stone. John said that Bob Stone had written Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves for Cher.
Any Wednesday, a/k/a, Wednesday, is one of my favorite of their songs. I hear a little of As Tears Go By in it. The Royal Guardsmen covered that Rolling Stones tune, not incidentally.
Listen to:
Any Wednesday, #97 in 1967, here or here
I Say Love, #72 in 1968, here or here
Leaving Me here or here
Shot Down here
Searching for the Good Times here or here
Mother, Where’s Your Daughter, #112 in 1969, here
Then there’s “Baby Let’s Wait,” a solid #2 on the list of Let’s Not Rush Into This songs. The Guardsmen cut it in 1966, but it went unreleased for two years before emerging from the vault and climbing to #35.
That song, they got from the Rascals, who cut it on their first album. (Pam Sawyer and Lori Burton, who wrote it, also wrote “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore,” the Rascals’ biggest pre-“Good Lovin'” hit.)