Peter Callander, Lyricist of Pop Hits in ’60s and ’70s, Dies at 74

Peter Callander, a British songwriter who provided lyrics for hits of the 1960s and ’70s like “The Night Chicago Died” and “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” died on Feb. 25 in Haresfield, Middlesex, England. He was 74. The cause was a heart attack, his wife, Connie, said. Mr. Callander was a throwback to Denmark Street in London, often referred to as Britain’s Tin Pan Alley, where he wrote behind the scenes at a time when many pop groups were writing their own music and lyrics. His songs were recorded by singers like Tom Jones, Cliff Richard and Cilla Black. Wayne Newton reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart in 1972 with his recording of “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast,” which Mr. Callander wrote with Geoff Stephens.

Mr. Callander collaborated most successfully with Mitch Murray. Among their hits was “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” which Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods took to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1974. Although Mr. Callander and Mr. Murray were both British, some of their most successful songs were American gangster narratives despite their limited knowledge of the subject.

Georgie Fame’s version of their song “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde,” inspired by the 1967 film, reached No. 7 on the Billboard chart in 1968. “The Night Chicago Died,” another Murray-Callander number recorded by the British band Paper Lace, reached No. 1 in the United States in 1974.

Despite its upbeat melody, that song’s lyrics, recounting a fictional battle between the Chicago police and Al Capone’s gang, were bleaker than Mr. Callander’s usual fare:

And the sound of the battle rang

Through the streets of the old East Side

Till the last of the hoodlum gang

Had surrendered up or died.

There was shouting in the street

And the sound of running feet

And I asked someone who said,

“ ’Bout a hundred cops are dead.”

Soon after the song became a hit, the band’s manager wrote to Chicago’s mayor at the time, Richard J. Daley, asking if the city might be interested in promoting it in some way. In “The Billboard Book of Number One Hits” Mr. Murray was quoted as recalling that Mayor Daley replied with “a rather rude letter” that ended with, “Are you nuts?”

Peter Callander was born in Hampshire, England, on Oct. 10, 1939. He entered the music industry after leaving the City of London School in 1957. He later helped found the Society of Distinguished Songwriters and served as a director of the Performing Right Society.

Mr. Callander lived in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Jason.

Source: NY Times
Photo Credit: http://www.petercallander.com/