She Ain’t Heavy, She’s Bulimic, NewsRevue Lyric, 15 March 1993

Writing 25 years later, this piece seems in extraordinarily bad taste.

Not only did the death of Princess Diana transform her overnight from being a valid butt of jokes to being more or less untouchable with comedy…

…but in any case I suspect that any jokes about bulimia would be considered poor taste now.

Back in the 1990s though, this quickie often had the audience in raptures – it ran and ran. That’s what sick humour can do.

Here’s the quickie lyric – short and not at all sweet:

SHE AIN’T HEAVY, SHE’S BULIMIC

(Sickie Quickie to the Tune of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”)

The colon’s long,

With many a winding turn;

The dinners that you prepare,

Should get there.

But the food,

Isn’t staying down at all;

She ain’t heavy,

She’s bulimic.

In May of that year, I paired the lyric with a short sketch, thus:

EATING DISORDERS

(A quickie sketch plus quickie song)

NOSH AND THROW

VIDAL:Hello.  My name’s Vidal Sassoon; and I’ve always been a great admirer of this scrawny cow.

DIANA:My name’s Princess Di; and Vidal Sassoon makes me throw up.

VIDAL:Still. Business is business.  So putting our differences aside, we’ve developed this wonderful new calorie controlled diet.

(Holds up sample)

It’s called “Nosh……

DIANA:…..and Throw”.

SHE AIN’T HEAVY, SHE’S BULIMIC

(Sickie Quickie to the Tune of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”)

The colon’s long,

With many a winding turn;

The dinners that you prepare,

Should get there.

But the food,

Isn’t staying down at all;

She ain’t heavy,

She’s bulimic.

The lyric was sometimes paired as above, sometimes with other sketches or skits that made it seem more topical, but it ran in the show on and off for years.

Here is another version of the lyric from April 1995 with a story about the then Lady Althorp, Di’s sister-in-law, who apparently was also bulimic.

EATING DISORDERS – LADY ALTHORPE REMIX
(A quickie sketch plus quickie song)

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

INTERVIEWER: Lady Althorpe, do eating disorders run in your family?

LADY A: No, but noses run in our family.

INTERVIEWER: That is an extremely old joke, Lady Althorpe.

LADY A: I know, but you can’t keep a good joke down.

INTERVIEWER: I see. And of course, you can’t keep a good meal down either.

SHE AIN’T HEAVY, SHE’S BULIMIC
(Sickie Quickie to the Tune of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”)

The colon’s long,
With many a winding turn;
The dinners that you prepare,
Should get there.

But the food,
Isn’t staying down at all;
She ain’t heavy,
She’s bulimic.

OUTRO

LADY A: That’s really sick humour, you know.

INTERVIEWER: I know.

Below is a vid showing the Hollies performing “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”:

This link – click here – will show you the Hollies lyrics.