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
The Hero with a Thousand Faces sometimes assisted by "allies". As the hero faces the "ordeal," he encounters the greatest challenge of the journey. Upon rising to the challenge, the hero will receive a reward, or "boon". Campbell's theory of the monomyth continues with the inclusion of a metaphorical "death" and "resurrection". The hero must then decide to return with this "boon" to the "ordinary world". The hero then faces more trials on "the road back". Upon the hero's return, the boon or gift may be used to improve the hero's ordinary world, in what Campbell calls, the "application of the boon". While many myths do