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The Hollies
Chart Position = # 7 on February 1970
After Graham Nash left the Hollies to join up with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, most bets were that the Hollies would soon fade into oblivion. Nash’s departure due to artistic differences wouldn’t be considered acrimonious, but afterward Allan Clarke, the group’s vocalist and spokesperson, was quoted as saying, “All of Graham’s songs are very slow and very boring. He wants to go all soppy, artistic, and beautiful.” Clarke’s next release with the Hollies was “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” Go figure.
Considering the plethora of sappy “save the world” songs that we’ve been inundated with, it may be difficult to keep the lyrical content of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” in proper perspective. Most songs about brotherly love have lyrics that tell us how we should behave. “We Are the World,” “The Greatest Love of All,” “Save the World,” etc., all conspire to make the listener feel stupid. I know that I should love my brother. Of course the children are our future. You don’t need to be a genius to know this, and I don’t need to be told in a song that racism is bad. These “behavior modification” songs usually set you up for emotional blackmail. If you don’t like the song, then you must be evil.
This is why “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” is the best of the genre. It doesn’t tell us to do anything. It tugs at our heartstrings without being demeaning. At its best, this song can give you a tangible sense of your own mortality and an awareness that we all, ultimately, have to judge our own actions. The sentiment of the title is developed in the verses. “So on we go, his welfare is my concern, no burden is he to bear, we’ll get there” perfectly expresses concern and brotherly love without condescension or platitudes.
The song takes its title from an expression that was immortalized in the 1938 film Boys Town, about a shelter for homeless boys. After “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” the Hollies went on to record two of the most successful singles of their career: “Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)” in 1972 and “The Air That I Breathe” (in 1974).
 
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