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He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother — The Hollies

No Words, No Song
5 min readFeb 5, 2022

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Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

There’s some doubt about where the original expression came from, but there’s no doubt that “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” was a major international hit for The Hollies — first in 1969 and again in 1988, on the back of its appearance in a beer commercial, of all things.

And in truth, it doesn’t really matter where the expression came from. It’s the sentiment behind the expression that counts…the timeless sentiment that the world is a better place for us all when we extend the hand of friendship and support to those less fortunate than ourselves.

In the hyper-partisan world of the early 2020s, maybe there’s something to be said for rediscovering this timeless sentiment, which goes to the heart of what it means to be a human being.

When all is said and done, each of us is likely to experience the fleeting highs and crushing lows of life during our time on Earth. If we’d like someone to be there for us in our time of need, it only makes sense for us to be there for someone else when they need a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on…

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

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No Words, No Song
No Words, No Song

Written by No Words, No Song

Without words, it’s just a nice tune. Add words — now you’ve got a song. And songs can change your world. I write about some that changed mine.

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