what is the origin of “he’s not heavy, he’s my brother” ?
It’s from a song by the Hollies.
It’s “he ain’t heavy…”
I love that song.
I believe that it has been the slogan of Father Flannagan’s Boystown since the 1930’s. It is a group home for boys and girls with branches all over. Their old logo used to show a guy giving a kid a ride on his back with the caption “He ain’t Heavy, he’s my brother.”
According to Nat Geographic Fr.Flanagan saw a picture on a magazine cover (sounds like Rockwell)with the caption "He ain’t heavy,Mr.he’s my brother"in 1941.
He bought the rights and changed the slogan leaving off the Mr.but it always was a pic of a boy with a smaller boy riding piggy back,with,IIRC,a leg brace.
Another long ago remembrance is they mailed stamps with the pic and slogan for donations,like the easter seals back then (do they have those anymore?)
From the official Girls and Boys Town website:
Er, make that “statue”.