Australian singles chart:
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother entered the Kent charts on 25 October 1969 and peaked at #8. The song was #55 on the Top 100 of 1970.
Songwriters:
Bob Russell, Bobby Scott
Producer:
Ron Richards
Record label of Australian release:
Parlophone
BONUS CLIP BELOW – version by Neil Diamond
Wikipedia:
James Wells, Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland, tells the story of a little girl carrying a big baby boy in his 1884 book The Parables of Jesus. Seeing her struggling, someone asked if she wasn’t tired. With surprise she replied: “No, he’s not heavy; he’s my brother.”
In the 1940s, the words, adapted as “He ain’t heavy, Father, he’s my brother”, were taken as a slogan for Boys Town children’s home by founder Father Edward Flanagan. According to the Boys Town website, the phrase was said to Fr. Flanagan in 1918 by one of the residents while carrying another up a set of stairs. The boy being carried is said to have had polio and worn leg braces.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Ain’t_Heavy,_He’s_My_Brother
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 60s
BONUS CLIP
A cover by Neil Diamond of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother was a minor hit in Australia. It entered the Kent charts on 25 January 1971 and peaked at #94.
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