The march ing band came (C7)down a long Main street, the sol dier blues fell in be hind.
I looked a cross and (C7)there I saw Bil ly, wait ing to go and join the line.
And with her head up (C7)on his shoul der,
his young and love ly (C7)fi an cée,
from where I stood I (C7)saw she was cry ing, and through her tears I (C)heard her say; She said, (F)Bil ly, don’t be a (Fmaj7)he ro, don’t be a (Gm)fool with your life.
(C7)Bil ly, don’t be a he ro, come back and (F)make me your wife.”
And as they start ed to go
she said, (Bb)“Bil ly, keep your head (Bbm)low.
(F)Bil ly, don’t be a (Bb)he ro, (C7)come back to (F)me.”
The sol dier blues were (C7)trapped on a hill side, the bat tle rag ing all a round.
The ser geant cried, “We’ve (C7)got to hang on, boys, we’ve got to hold this piece of ground.
I need a vol un (C7)teer to ride up
and bring us back some (C7)ex tra men.”
And Bil ly’s hand was (C7)up in a mo ment, for get ting all the (C)words she said.
She said, (F)Bil ly, don’t be a (Fmaj7)he ro, don’t be a (Gm)fool with your life.
(C7)Bil ly, don’t be a he ro, come back and (F)make me your wife.”
And as they start ed to go
she said, (Bb)“Bil ly, keep your head (Bbm)low.
(F)Bil ly, don’t be a (Bb)he ro, (C7)come back to (F)me.”
I heard she threw that (Gm7)let ter
a (F)way.
This page shows “Billy, Don't Be A Hero” by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods in our color-coded kid songbook view — every note is colored by pitch (red C, orange D, yellow E, green F, blue G, purple A, pink B) and the lyrics sit directly under each note, so children can sing along while they play. The song is in the key of Bb at 100 BPM, a medium-difficulty arrangement — try slowing the tempo down using the BPM control.