HOLDING BACK THE YEARS

"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, reaching number one on the

Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending July 12, 1986. It is one of two Simply Red songs (the other being their cover of "I

If You Don't Know Me by Now") to reach number one. "Holding Back the Years" reached #2 in the

UK and was a worldwide hit. It had initially been released in the UK the year before, reaching #51.

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.^[1] His mother left the family when he was three; the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song.^[2]

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 who see Hucknall off on his journey.

I know that songs hold many different meaning for each of us…so I it would be interesting to know what emotions if any this song evokes in you. For me it is about missing Noel and how I am holding onto to his return. I can’t even think about him or this without tears coming to eyes. So enjoy this song, I know I will over AND over!