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
I Wouldn't Be a Man Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) charts published by "Billboard", and number seven on the Canadian country music charts published by "RPM". Billy Dean recorded the song for his 1996 album "It's What I Do", also released through Capitol Records. His version of the song was the third single from it, spending fourteen weeks on the country charts and peaking at number 45 by year's end. In October 1996, Dean told "Billboard" magazine that he chose to cut the song because he thought that it was different from the material that he had cut before; he called it a "one-on-one,