What a soulful song this is coming out of the Hollies. After Graham Nash left the group, they started to change into more of a 70s rock band.
The Hollies may be best known for their chiming guitars, close harmonies, and pop feel on songs like Bus Stop or Carrie Anne, but in 1969, they took a hard turn straight into emotional overdrive with this song. This wasn’t your typical British Invasion earworm. This was a slow-burning ballad with a title that sounded like scripture. The star of this song is Alan Clarke’s lead vocal. A gut-wrenching vocal that makes Clarke sound like he lived the song.
It was released in 1969 and was written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. A young Elton John played piano on the song. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #7 in New Zealand. It was used in a commercial in 1988 and in that year went to number 1 in the UK charts. I always thought the song had a spiritual sound to it.
Speaking of the songwriters, Bobby Scott was a jazz pianist, and Bob Russell was writing these lyrics while battling terminal cancer. The phrase “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” came from a story involving a Scottish orphanage and a child being carried on another’s back. Back in 1918, a boy named Howard Loomis was abandoned by his mother at Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys, which had opened just a year earlier. Howard had polio and wore heavy leg braces. Walking was difficult for him, especially when he had to go up or down steps. Soon, several of the Home’s older boys carried Howard up and down the stairs. One day, Father Flanagan asked Reuben Granger, one of those older boys, if carrying Howard was hard. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s my brother.”
Tony Hicks: “In the 1960s when we were short of songs I used to root around publishers in Denmark Street. One afternoon, I’d been there ages and wanted to get going but this bloke said: ‘Well there’s one more song. It’s probably not for you.’ He played me the demo by the writers [Bobby Scott and Bob Russell]. It sounded like a 45rpm record played at 33rpm, the singer was slurring, like he was drunk. But it had something about it. There were frowns when I took it to the band but we speeded it up and added an orchestra. The only things left recognizable were the lyrics. There’d been this old film called Boys Town about a children’s home in America, and the statue outside showed a child being carried aloft and the motto He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother. Bob Russell had been dying of cancer while writing. We never got, or asked for, royalties. Elton John – who was still called Reg – played piano on it and got paid 12 pounds. It was a worldwide hit twice.”
He Ain’t Heavy(He’s My Brother)
The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where
But I’m strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We’ll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
If I’m laden at all
I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart
Isn’t filled with the gladness
Of love for one another
It’s a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we’re on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn’t weigh me down at all
He ain’t heavy he’s my brother
He’s my brother
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother, he ain’t heavy
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