On this day in 1974 ‘Billy Don’t Be a Hero’ topped the charts

It has been viewed as an anti-Vietnam song, but Billy Don’t Be a Hero is a song about everyone.

First performed by British band Paper Lace in 1974, the song was written by Mitch Murray and Peter Callender, who also wrote the band’s other massive hit The Night Chicago Died.

Originally the songwriting team wanted to shop the song to top acts, but after Peter’s wife Connie saw Paper Lace win the television competition Opportunity Knocks, she convinced them to give the emerging group a go.

With the Vietnam War still ongoing and fresh in listeners’ memories, it’s natural many would associate it with recent conflict. However, it is in fact a more timeless tale set in the American Civil War.

Billy is watching the soldiers going to battle and joins up despite the pleas from his beloved not to go. Billy goes and loses his life after volunteering for a dangerous mission. Billy’s fiancé is notified by a letter and is heartbroken that Billy didn’t listen to her.

While many thought it was about the Vietnam war there are a few clues in the song that let you know it’s about a bygone era. The drum pattern is mimicked after the drummers that would lead the platoons into battle and the fact that the mission Billy volunteers for is to go request extra men. This indicates that it was a time before radios where they could just call for reinforcements.

Just a few months later, the American group Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods did a cover of the song that was also a chart-topping. But it was Paper Lace’s version that reached #1 here in Australia, on this day in 1974.

Australia’s own comedic music group The Doug Anthony All Stars also did a cover of the song in the late 80s on the ABC program The Big Gig.

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