Holding Back the Years

Infobox Single
Name = Holding Back the Years


Artist = Simply Red
from Album = Picture Book
Released = 1985 (original release) 1986 (re-release)
Genre = Pop/Soul
Length = 4:27
Writer = Mick Hucknall, Neil Moss
Last single = "Come to My Aid" (1985)
This single = "Holding Back the Years" (1985)
Next single = "Jericho" (1986)
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Last single = "Jericho" (1986)
This single = "Holding Back the Years" (re-release) (1986)
Next single = "Open Up the Red Box" (1986)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Picture Book
Type = studio
prev_track = "Money's Too Tight To Mention"
prev_no = 6
this_track = "Holding Back the Years"
track_no = 7
next_track = "(Open Up) The Red Box"
next_no = 8

"Holding Back the Years" is the 7th track of Simply Red's debut studio album "Picture Book". The song was a smash success for the group and quickly rose to the top of charts across the world. It remains their most successful single. The single is one of two Simply Red songs (the other being their cover of "If You Don't Know Me by Now") to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, for the week ending July 12, 1986.It also reached #2 in the UK and was a worldwide hit.

Background

Frontman of the group, Mick Hucknall, wrote the song when he was seventeen, while living at his father's house. The chorus did not come to him until many years later. cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D7163AF932A25750C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Simply Red's 2D Album Blends Funk with Ballads|publisher=The New York Times|date=11 March 1987|accessdate=2008-10-05] His mother left him when he was three; the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song. [cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1375942/Simply-Red-star-cleared-after-arrest-for-rape.html|title=Simply Red star cleared after arrest for rape|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=19 June, 2001|accessdate=2008-10-11]

He recorded a version of the song with his first group "The Frantic Elevators" in 1982 but the real success came when the Simply Red version was released in 1985. In 2005, a brand-new stripped down acoustic version of the song was released on the album "Simplified", and this version received heavy airplay on smooth jazz radio stations.

Music video

The video for this song was filmed in the English coastal town of Whitby and the famous scene where Hucknall watches the coastal view from his window can be seen on the cover of the single, in its music video and, for a brief time, in the music video of "If You Don't Know Me by Now". The other band members play the role of the local cricket team.

"Eastenders" & "Shameless" actress Maggie O'Neill made her acting debut as the schoolteacher in the video.

Cover versions

The song was covered by Another Level in 1999.It was also covered by Umphrey's McGee on their New Years Run on 29 December, 2007.

In popular culture

*"Holding Back the Years" was used as the soundtrack to a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in the 2005 general election campaign.

References