1974.

At a time when the world needs heroes, you go for it Billy. Instead of a cape though, I would recommend a mask and plenty of hand washing!

Written by English songwriters and producers Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, this was a UK hit for Nottingham based band Paper Lace.

The song is about a man going off to war, although which war is never identified. There has been a long standing assumption that it was about the American Civil War, an assumption based on the marching drum beat and reference to soldiers in blue uniforms – along with the band wearing Union style uniforms for a performance on Top of the Pops. Due to the timing of the record’s release though, some believed it to be about the Vietnam War.

Whilst the critics spoke poorly of the record at the time, on its release the song gave the band their first international top ten hit. It reached number one in Australia, where it stayed for eight weeks, whilst here in the UK it spent a total of fourteen weeks on the chart including three weeks at number one.

This version didn’t make the US charts, but a few months after Paper Lace topped the UK chart, Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods reached number one in the US and Canada with their version.