Billy Don't Be a Hero to ride out and seek reinforcements. (This suggests mounted infantry and a lack of modern two-way radio communications.) In the end, the heartbroken woman throws away the official letter notifying her of Billy's "heroic" death. Paper Lace's version of "Billy Don't Be a Hero" reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 16 March 1974, and did likewise in Australia, where it spent eight weeks at the top spot. Thereafter, Bo Donaldson's and the Heywoods's version reached No. 1 in the U.S. on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on 15 June 1974, but was dubbed into French for Canada. The
To Be a Lover in early 1969. This version has since been sampled by Ludacris on his song "Growing Pains" from "Word of Mouf", by Jaheim on "Put That Woman First" from "Still Ghetto" and by Dilated Peoples on the song "Worst Comes to Worst". In 1977, the song was covered as a more uptempo reggae number by the Jamaican singer George Faith under the amended title of "To Be a Lover (Have Mercy)" for his Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced album also called "To Be a Lover". In 1986, the track was again reworked and became the second high-profile cover Billy Idol released as a