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
Anyone Who Had a Heart (song) chart for the following week at No.42; by then Black's version had reached No.10, ascending in the subsequent two weeks to No.2 and then No.1, while Warwick's version concurrently ended its chart run with two weeks at No.47. On the chart dated 29 February 1964, besides Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" at No.1 for the first of three weeks and Warwick's version in its final chart week at No.47, the UK Top 50 featured a third version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" as the version by Mary May made its one-week appearance at No.49. On 25 April 1964,