Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

Photo Theme: HEAVY

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My older brother Mike -- he who loves to correct facts in my blog and other extraneous things just to keep me in line.

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This week’s theme is HEAVY. Here’s hoping my older brother Mike has a sense of humour about my take on this week’s theme HEAVY.

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Here's my brother Mike and my little sister Brenda. She can still get her arms around him so I guess he's not so heavy, don't you think?

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Here's some of my family at my birthday party a few years ago. I was always the skinny one but looking at this picture, I'm not so svelte as I thought I was.

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and to read photo captions.

Some factoids about “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”

• The first-released and best-known version of which was recorded by The Hollies in 1969. One of the group’s biggest hits, “He Ain’t Heavy” became one of the most defining and enduring tunes of that era. It has also become an anthem for brotherly love.
• “He Ain’t Heavy” was composed by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. The pair had been introduced to each other by Johnny Mercer at a California nightclub. Despite the fact that Russell was dying of cancer and that the pair met in person only three times, they managed to turn out “He Ain’t Heavy”.
• The Hollies soon recorded the emotional ballad, featuring the piano talents of Elton John, and with lead singer Allan Clarke providing a heartfelt rendition of the lyrics. The song had been discovered by the group’s guitarist Tony Hicks as a publisher’s demo.
• In 1924, the first editor of Kiwanis Magazine, Roe Fulkerson, published a column carrying the title “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”. Dated September 1924, the article speaks of Fulkerson’s inspiring encounter with “a spindly and physically weak lad” carrying a baby and “staggering towards a neighboring park”.
• The earliest recording of the song was made by Neil Diamond, from the “Taproot Manuscript” album, but as this recording was not released until after The Hollies’ version (in 1969) it is often mistakenly listed as a cover version.
• Cover versions have been recorded by, among others: covered by ], The Osmonds in 1971, and again in 1975 by The Osmonds consider it a theme song, and regularly perform it in concert as a show closer.
• In 1988 Bill Medley recorded a version for the end credits of the film Rambo III. This version, produced by Giorgio Moroder, was released in the UK as a single around the same time as the re-issued Hollies version, and both featured in the Top 40 simultaneously, Medley’s version reaching #25.

The song has also been recorded by, among many others:
• Cher on her 1971 album Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves;
• Donny Hathaway on his eponymous 1971 album;
• The Osmonds in 1971 (and frequently in concert as a finale);
• Olivia Newton-John in 1975;
• The Housemartins in 1988;
• Gotthard, in 1996 BMG Ariola version of their third album “G.”;
• Rufus Wainwright, for the soundtrack to the Ben Stiller film “Zoolander”;
• Barry Manilow in his 2007 album “The Greatest Songs of the Seventies”;
• Christian music artist Clay Crosse on his “Stained Glass” album.

Other references

• In the film Austin Powers in Goldmember, Austin makes a reference to the song. After finding out that Dr. Evil is in fact his brother, he states “He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother, baby!”
• In the film Heartbreak Ridge, Stitch Jones (Mario Van Peebles) says about his friend Aponte after having turned him in, “He ain’t heavy and he sure the hell ain’t my brother.”
• In the Red Dwarf episode “Beyond a Joke”, Kryten picks up the dead body of fellow droid Able and responds to an offer of help with the line “He ain’t heavy sir, He’s my brother…”.
• In the Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law episode “High Speed Buggy Chase”, part of the song is played as Avenger leaves Harvey’s office at the end of his last day working with him.
• In the sitcom Scrubs, after a night of drinking, Turk’s brother carries a drunk Turk into his apartment. Turk’s brother is singing “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…”
• One episode of Home Improvement was called “He ain’t heavy…He’s just irresponsible”, which was a mention of the song’s title.
• In the Judge Dredd comic series, Joe Dredd is forced to kill his brother Rico in self-defense. In spite of Rico’s status as a criminal, a wounded Dredd chooses to carry him out of the apartment where Rico has died, stating “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”
• The song is used in a Canadian public service announcement by Concerned Children’s Advertisers addressing drug awareness. The vignette depicts a story of two childhood friends who have grown apart because of drug abuse.
• The song is referenced in Miami Ink when a kid gets a tattoo which reads “He Ain’t Heavy” which refers to his brother who is a parapalegic. The tattoo is his way of remembering his brother when he goes to college.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 5:30:05 PM and is filed under JOURNAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.