Billy Don't Be a Hero Billy Don't Be a Hero "Billy Don't Be a Hero" is a 1974 pop song that was first a UK hit for Paper Lace and then, some months later, a US hit for Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The song was written and composed by two British songwriters, Mitch Murray and Peter Callander. Because the song was released in 1974, it was associated by some listeners with the Vietnam War, though the war to which it actually refers is never identified in the lyrics. It has been suggested that the drum pattern, references to a marching band leading soldiers in
A Pub with No Beer regional hit on the Hall-Way label. The melody of the song is almost identical to Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer." "Bar with No Beer" was recorded by Tom T. Hall in 1985 on the album "Song in a Seashell". Johnny Cash, who also performed the song, advised him to record it. Anne Kirkpatrick & Slim Dusty, Bobbejaan Schoepen (Benelux, Germany, Austria, 1959/60), Johnny Cash, Bluey Francis, Errol Gray, Foster & Allen, Gordon Parsons, the Irish Rovers, Johnny Greenwood, John Williamson (performed a parody version of the song called "A Dog With No Hair"), Nokturnl, Richard Clayderman, Rodney Vincent, the Singing Kettles,