From the moment that Schroder played his first note in a comic strip published on September 24, 1951, the world of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts has had a unique relationship with music. While Schroder became the comic strip’s resident musician by playing complex compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven on his toy piano, Peanuts’ musical legacy truly began in the 1960’s when pianist Vince Guaraldi successfully interpreted Charlie Brown’s world through his whimsical modern jazz scores from the popular animated television specials, and made his composition “Linus and Lucy” instantly recognizable in our collective soundscape. Since then, Peanuts has been the inspiration for pop songs, Christmas classics, multiple stage shows, and even a breakdance album. Most recently, celebrated indie artist Ben Folds has continued Peanuts’ musical tradition in the animated feature, Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical. The newest addition to the series of Peanuts specials being produced by Apple TV+ and WildBrain Media, A Summer Musical is the first new Peanuts musical in 50 years and was produced as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the comic strip’s creation.
Written and co-produced by Craig and Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, with music composed by Ben Folds, Jeff Morrow, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, A Summer Musical features a classic Peanuts summer camp story but with a modern twist. Excited to be returning to Cloverfield Ranch, where he and his friends have spent the summers of their childhood, Charlie Brown helps his sister Sally navigate the challenges of her first experience with “sleepaway camp.” However, with camp enrollment down due to modern kids rejecting nature and outdoor activities, the Peanuts gang are dismayed to discover the camp is shutting down after the current season. Facing the end of an era in their childhoods, Charlie Brown and friends deal with grief while trying to find a way to save the camp. Meanwhile, Snoopy and his Beagle Scouts (the troop of Woodstock-type birds that follow him in his camping expeditions) find a mysterious map and search the woods for treasure. Could Snoopy’s booty hold the key to saving the Ranch? Five brand new songs bring the viewers through the emotional peaks and valleys of A Summer Musical, with three new compositions, “When We Were Light,” “Look Up, Charlie Brown,” and “Better Than We Found It,” being written by Ben Folds.
One of the most respected singer/songwriters in modern music, Ben Folds first broke into the music scene in the 1990’s via his indie-band, Ben Folds Five. Their 1995 self-titled debut album and its follow up, Whatever and Ever Amen (1997), became two of the decade’s most critically acclaimed releases. After Ben Folds Five disbanded in 2000, Folds embarked on a succesful solo career beginning with his highly acclaimed release “Rockin’ the Suburbs” (2001). Over twelve albums, Folds has had three Billboard hits, including “One Angry Dwarf,” “Brick,” and “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” His work on A Summer Musical is actually Folds’ second time writing for Peanuts. Folds previously wrote the song “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” for the 2022 feature of the same name, which earned him an Emmy Nomination for “Outstanding Original Song.”
2025 has proven to be a busy year for Folds. He quit his position as the Artistic Advisor for the Kennedy Center’s National Symphony Orchestra, which he held since 2019. Then, he released a new album, Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra, and is currently on tour throughout the US.
Getting the opportunity to talk with Ben Folds about his music for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical was a true treat for me. As a lifelong Peanuts fan with an extensive working knowledge of the history of the franchise, to be able to talk with one of the musical geniuses of our time about writing music for Peanuts was an opportunity to discover the process of writing for Charlie Brown. Ben Folds doesn’t disappoint, and his compositions go far beyond just being songs written for a cartoon, following an emotional process that connects modernity and nostalgia at the crossroads of our real life and the fictional world of Peanuts.
Sam Tweedle: So these are two things I love talking about – music and Charlie Brown. This is a total dream interview.
Ben Folds: Awesome. That’s great.
Sam: A Summer Musical is the second time you’ve written music for Peanuts. How did you get the opportunity to write for Charlie Brown? Does this mean that you are the new musician behind the franchise?
Ben: Well, let’s hope. I don’t really know how this came to happen. I need to ask my manager how we got involved with Peanuts exactly. But at some point, it came down the pipe and I was very honored. Of course, I said, “Yes, I’d like to do it.” I don’t take on a lot of things like this, but this opportunity is so special.
Sam: In It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown, and now in A Summer Musical, you’ve written from the perspective of two characters – Charlie Brown and his sister, Sally. Are there any other characters in the franchise you’d like to write for, or are Charlie Brown and Sally the characters you feel are maybe the closest to your own personality?
Ben: Well, Charlie Brown and Sally feel close to my own perspective now because I’ve had experience writing for them. But I think the scripts, so far, have just spoken for themselves. The writing has put me where I need to be, so I anticipate that whichever character the writers drop in my lap next, I’ll understand them and learn more about them. As long as I can understand the situation, I can write for it. It would be very difficult for me to write for characters that didn’t feel real to me. They have to feel real, and after more than a half a century of being exposed to the Peanuts characters, they feel real to me.
Sam: That’s the beautiful thing about the Peanuts characters. They are all extremely eccentric but all highly relatable, and if we don’t relate to them ourselves, we see somebody from our own life in the characters, which helps them become endearing. We know a Charlie Brown. We know a Linus. We know a Lucy. We know a Schroeder. We know a Peppermint Patty and a Marcie. Somebody in our life, be it from our childhood or even now, fits that broad, eccentric archetype.
Ben: Most people are eccentric. I mean, there’s no normal, and most kids really feel that. You always feel like all the other kids are normal and you aren’t. That’s what we always felt growing up, and that’s what kids growing up feel now. It’s like, there are cool kids, but you’re not one of them. But if you ask the cool kids, they feel like they’re outsiders too. Charlie Brown and Peanuts exist in the real world that way.
Sam: I’ve been aware of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts chraacters since before I even was able to form memory and Peanuts has been a favorite of mine my entire life. I was wondering what your personal relationship with the Peanuts characters are and why you like them so much.
Ben: Well, we grew up with Peanuts. A lot of the best things are things that you might take for granted. I mean, the world was so convincing in regard to Peanuts that I never questioned it. It’s a tone. It’s sort of a soft, melancholic view that Charlie Brown sort of has that I related to. When I was a kid, I didn’t think about it, but as an adult I found it really compelling and easy to understand. To sit inside Charlie Brown’s personality and find lots of things hidden under lots of different stones makes songwriting a blast.
Sam: You used the word melancholic, which is the word I’d use to describe two of the songs that you wrote for A Summer Musical. You’ve written two of the most moving songs possibly ever written for a Peanuts production.
Ben: You’re talking about “When We Were Light” and “Look Up, Charlie Brown,” maybe?
Sam: Those are exactly the songs I’m referring too. They are very sad but very beautiful and moving.
Ben: Well, Charlie Brown is an old soul. He’s an old soul, literally, by being around for more than half a century. So, when he sings “When We Were Light,” I wanted him to be sentimental from almost a middle-aged adult’s perspective. He’s reminiscing about when he was a child, but he is a child. So that was the kind of thing that allowed for some emotional range. Specifically, word for word, it could really feel like things that a kid, or an older adult, might say. But the thing is, Charlie Brown definitely has a vibe. I mean, you just look at him, and with one “Good grief,” you just get him.
Sam: You can feel his anxiety, the depression. You can see his shoulders slump. It’s a feeling that collectively we’ve all felt at some point in our lives.
Ben: Yeah. Charlie Brown is our spokesperson because most of us have felt like that, probably more than not. So, drawing on that blueprint, you just kind of go down into the well and just report what he’s feeling. If it was another iconic character, I don’t know how easy I would find that to be. I think it’s really easy when you’re talking about someone who you really relate to, because you can make it about you. That’s how, in my 50s, I can write for a child like that, because I feel like he’s kind of an old soul. It’s like he’s in his 50s, even though he’s a child.
Sam: When Vince Guaraldi wrote the music for Peanuts, he was trying to make music that was both playful, but still sophisticated. I think that really kept in the spirit with the original Charles Schulz comic strips, which had a sense of innocence but had kids talking like adults. While the music you’ve been writing for the Peanuts cartoons is unlike what has come before, it still fits within that initial spirit of the strip. Are you putting yourself right into the world of Peanuts or are you writing from your own perspective, or is it even a bit of both? What’s the mindset you go into when you write for Peanuts?
Ben: It’s probably closer to just writing for myself and writing for what I see in the characters. Of course, Vince Guaraldi’s sophistication and unwillingness to talk down to kids, and not to underestimate their intelligence, is part of the Peanuts brand. It’s part of that universe. That’s the important part. Not that he’s playing a lot of major nines and a lot of fours, and not that he’s doing something specific. The first instinct coming into this position is to wonder, “What would Vince do?” But I threw that mindset away quickly because I felt like even if he were here, he would applaud me going with the spirit of it rather than ripping off his style. It’s definitely tempting to put something inspired by Vince in there, and just the fact that there is piano within the music is a nod to his original scores. And then keeping the music dense in emotion, but sparse harmonically. I think I would say that’s what Vince was doing. I think my music is simpler on one level, but then Vince wasn’t a big lyricist. I’m overlaying the music and lyrics, and then I spread out. Maybe I don’t have a jazz chord in my left hand, but it’s in the syntax.
Sam: Well, for the specials that you have written music for, I feel that the songs and how they fit into the current animated features is quite compelling. They are distinctly modern, while still having the kind of timeless appeal that Peanuts has as a franchise. It is still relatable for a young viewer who might be hearing your music for the first time but hits an emotional chord that can be fully understood by adults.
Ben: Well, kids can understand stacks of things. They can understand things happening in 3D. In the last song from the musical, “Better Than We Found It,” the kids have saved the camp, but only for now. I wanted to make it clear in the song that there are a couple caveats in what has happened. They’re going to have to pass the torch now and wish the younger kids good luck. They don’t know if their generation is going to solve all the problems, but they’re certainly going to try. They realize that there are still problems, but they also realize, in the song at least, that the parents did the best that they could and now they’ve given them something that’s quite a challenge. So, in being three-dimensional like that inside the world of Peanuts, that’s something that we’ve inherited with them. I mean, what an amazing thing that Charles Schulz created something 75 years ago, and it continues to create itself. And his family is still involved, and I’ve consulted with them at every turn.
Sam: What’s it like to be able to consult with Craig and Bryan Schulz in regard to making the music for Peanuts?
Ben: It’s really great. I mean, they grew up with it. They understand it and they probably came by a lot of their talent for writing and imagining, honestly, through their family. It’s nice to have them as a backstop. When I wonder if I can do something or not, I can just ask Craig. That’s nice. I mean, you don’t always have that, and I trust them as the rightful guardians of these living, breathing characters. That makes it safe to know I can write inside that, and if I go too far, they would certainly say so.
Sam: Like most good family entertainment, A Summer Musical can be enjoyed on different levels based on the perspective of the viewer. Kids are going to be able to watch it, and they are going to enjoy it because it has a good story and fun characters. But adults are going to watch it, and they will be able to really connect with it in a deep way because they will be able to refer to things, and possibly people, from their life that no longer exist. I think that has probably been a big appeal to the Peanuts cartoons ever since A Charlie Brown Christmas, and why the cartoons and characters have stayed popular with both adults and children, but maybe I’m seeing it more clearly now by watching it through adult eyes.
Ben: Yeah. We understood the Peanuts cartoons when we were kids, and we always tend to underestimate what kids understand. They understand way more than we expect them to. But then there are some things that look very different from the other side. Peanuts has managed to maintain both of those perspectives, which is probably where I was going with the song “When We Were Light.” The perspective of an older person saying, “Back then,” and Charlie Brown being in his present tense. Things do look different once you get through them, so then we can revisit all that stuff again and see it from another angle.
Sam: My favorite sequence in the entire special is actually the “When We Were Light” number where Charlie Brown is reminiscing about the summers of his past, and the animators used the original Charles Schulz designs for the Peanuts characters from the earliest days of the strip, where the kids look younger and have bigger heads and Snoopy is still a puppy on all fours. That was a beautiful easter egg for the fans and I got quite emotional wagching it. The sequence also had the emotional impact that matched the mood of the song you composed.
Ben: It gives you chills, doesn’t it?
Sam: It really does.
Ben: I really love that part, and I really like what the animators did during “Look Up, Charlie Brown” as well. I think that was very artful. In “When We Were Light” I write about looking through some old pictures and think about all those times we had five days ago. When you’re kids, and you go to camp, at the end of the summer you leave believing the other kids are going to be your friends forever, but the next year you don’t even know who those kids are anymore.
Sam: I love the work that Apple TV+ is doing on the Peanuts franchise right now. The new series of animated shows have been small masterpieces, honoring the classic Peanuts cartoons, but adding a modern sensibility and maturity to the franchise.
Ben: They’ve definitely brought about a nice renaissance.
Sam: Do you think we will ever see a vinyl release of your Peanuts music?
Ben: If I have anything to do with it, yes.
Sam: That’d be amazing. They are doing such nice re-pressings of the classic Vince Guaraldi Peanuts soundtracks. I really want to have your Peanuts music in my record collection.
Ben: Everything I’ve ever made, I’ve insisted on it going to vinyl. I think there’s some interest in seeing a vinyl release of my Peanuts music, so hopefully it will happen eventually. I think the first thing is, to get this thing up, but I’m already thinking vinyl because that’s the way I make music. I expect it to be spun on a record, and until then, I’m not completely happy.
Sam: That’s great, because the moment I discover it’s coming out, I’ll already have it pre-ordered. That’s a record that I know I want really badly.
Ben: Powers that be, are you listening?
One of the most potent and emotional specials in the Peanuts series, Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is a story that is relatable for audiences of all ages. It not only acts as a celebration of Peanuts’ 75-year history, but embraces the history, joy, whimsy, and complexity of the original comic strip. While it is easily accessible to young viewers discovering Peanuts for the first time, the special also contains emotional depth that will draw in adult viewers, while offering fun “Easter eggs” within the animation for old school Peanuts aficionados. Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is currently available for streaming at Apple TV+. Ben Folds’s music for A Summer Musical, as well as his previous work on It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown, can be listened to on Spotify. Meanwhile, Ben’s newest album, Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra (2025) is available from your favorite vinyl dealer, and check out his website for upcoming tour dates to see him in a city near you!
(Vinyl Stories Note: Special thanks to Robyn Murphy, Jacklyn Friedlich, Shira Alter, Allie Page and the team from Apple TV+ PR for facilitating this interview, and giving us the opportunity to talk with Ben Folds about his work with Peanuts.)
