Holding Back the Years

"Holding Back the Years"
Single by Simply Red
from the album Picture Book
B-side	"Drowning in My Own Tears" / "I Won't Feel Bad"
Released	1985 (original release) March 1986 (re-release)
Genre	Pop rock, blue-eyed soul
Length	4:27
Label	WEA Records Elektra Records
Writer(s)	Mick Hucknall, Neil Moss
Simply Red singles chronology
"Come to My Aid" (1985) "Holding Back the Years" (1985) "Jericho" (1986)
Picture Book track listing "Money's Too Tight to Mention" (6) "Holding Back the Years" (7) "(Open Up) The Red Box" (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, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 12 July 1986. It 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. "Holding Back the Years" reached No.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. His mother left the family when he was three; the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song. The song was co-written by Neil Moss, who was also a member of the Frantic Elevators.^{[citation needed]}

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 graveyard in which the video was shot

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.

EastEnders & Shameless actress Maggie O'Neill made her acting debut as the schoolteacher in the video, where she is seen engaging in sexual foreplay in a church graveyard. This apparently causes great consternation to her pupils who witness their teacher's liaison whilst innocently playing.

Cover versions

• American jazz singer Jimmy Scott released an album in 1998 entitled Holding Back The Years which featured a notable cover version of the song.
• Instrumental group Pieces of a Dream released a cover from their album Makes You Wanna.
• The song was covered by Another Level in 1999.
• Jazz vocalist Erin Bode covered the song on her 2006 album Over and Over.
• It was also covered by Umphrey's McGee on their New Years Run on 29 December 2007.
• It has also been covered by The Isley Brothers and singer-songwriter Angie Stone.
• During live performances, Dave Matthews Band has used it as an interpolation and outro for "If I Had It All". This happened most frequently during the Summer 2006 tour.
• It has been covered by Randy Crawford on her 1995 album Naked and True.
• Guitarist Craig Chaquiço covered the song from his 1997 album Once in a Blue Universe.
• Jazz singer Gretchen Parlato recorded a cover on her 2011 album The Lost and Found.

In popular culture

• "Holding Back the Years" was used as the soundtrack to a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in the 2005 UK general election campaign.
• The song appeared in the film Love & Basketball.
• The song appeared in the film Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
• The song appeared in Only Fools & Horses in the episode "Little Problems", after Rodney and Cassandra's wedding, when Del Boy is on his own in the function room. Director Ray Butt recalls during filming of the scene writer John Sullivan anxiously commenting "Nobody's laughing". Butt replied: "That's 'cause they're all crying.".
• The song has been sampled by multiple rap groups, including Brand Nubian for their single "Hold On" and 8Ball & MJG for "Comin' Out Hard".
• The song appeared in the American television series Miami Vice in the episode "By Hooker By Crook", during the ending with Sonny Crockett and Christine (Melanie Griffith) on his sailboat, Saint Vitus' dance.
• The song appeared in the American sitcom Everybody Hates Chris during the episode "Everybody Hates The Ninth-Grade Dance."

References

Preceded by "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" by Billy Ocean

Billboard Hot 100 number one single 12 July 1986

Succeeded by "Invisible Touch" by Genesis