"He ain't heavy father, he's my brother."
It was the title of a hit song in 1970 and was a line from the 1938 movie Boystown, as explained here:
The movie centres around John and Michael Murphy, the sons of two Irish immigrants living in New York in the early 20s, whose parents are killed in a gas explosion, leaving them orphans. They are placed in an orphanage run by a kindly nun, and soon after there is the possibility that the younger John will be adopted, thereby separating the brothers. Michael overhears a conversation between a nun and a priest in which he tells her about an old seminary friend (Father Flanagan) who "has founded a wonderful place for boys, and he keeps them together...he calls it Boystown...but it's in Omaha..." Michael and John formulate a plan to run away from the orphanage and they have many heart-rending trials and adventures as they make their way to Boystown, eluding police and bounty hunters. Eventually Boystown is within sight and Michael, carrying the now sick and lame John on his back, staggers towards it. Father Flanagan, seeing them approaching, rushes out to greet them and says to Michael "That boy on your back must be very heavy", and Michael utters the motto of Boystown, "He ain't heavy; he's my brother".
worldservicegroup.com
I remember Casey Kasem relating the origin of the song title on his American Top 40 radio show nearly 40 years ago when the song was a hit for the Hollies and Neil Diamond. |
