Billboard #1 Hits: #326: “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”- Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods.- June 15, 1974. #1 2 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100.
- Single” Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”- Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
- Record Company- ABC
- Genre: Pop
- Written by Peter Callander and Mitch Murray
- Time: 3:25
- B-side: “Don’t Ever Look Back”
- Album- Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
- Grade: D
- Peaked at #1 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100.
“Billy, Don’t Be A Hero” was first a hit in the UK by Paper Lace { Remembered for their great sensational “The Night Chicago Died”}- in America it was taken to the top by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods a pop group out of Cincinnati. Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods do not fall into the one hit wonder category- more of a one year wonder- after “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”- they had 2 more Top 40 hits in 1974- and that was all she wrote. I always hated this song. My memory of it is during that summer of 1974 this kid on my baseball team named Billy- was tortured by it by the rest of the team.
slicethelife 
“I always hated this song…” too
It’s sad – and that’s all I’ll write
A strange song in the era of ” songs should tell a story.” Right up there with ” The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia.” Still better than the crap in today’s top 40.
No argument there!
I actually like it but more for nostalgia than quality. Loved it when I was about 7 or 8. Same songwriters as ‘The Night Chicago Died’ by the way.