Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Bumper Music
​Song #109

The Hollies
He Ain't Heavy, He' My Brother

The Hollies are an English pop/rock group, best known for their pioneering and distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. The Hollies became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid 1970s. The band was formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in 1962. Nash left the group in 1968 to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash.

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" was written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell and was originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, one year after Graham Nash left the group. The song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and featured Elton John playing piano.

The title came from the motto for Boys Town, a community formed in 1917 by a Catholic priest named Father Edward Flanagan who was portrayed by actor Spencer Tracy in a 1938 film titled Boys Town co-starring a young Mickey Rooney. Boys Town was located in Omaha, Nebraska, it was a place where troubled or homeless boys could come for help.
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In 1941, Father Flanagan was looking at a magazine called The Messenger when he came across a drawing of a boy carrying a younger boy on his back, with the caption, "He ain't heavy Mr., he's my brother." Father Flanagan thought the image and phrase captured the spirit of Boys Town, so he got permission and commissioned a statue of the drawing with the inscription, "He ain't heavy Father, he's my brother." The statue and phrase became the logo for Boys Town.

The Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Please enjoy this beautiful and very inspirational song.

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 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

​See an entire collection of  songs about homelessness performed by your favorite artists
including biography, lyrics and the story behind the music
at HomelessPerspective.com

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