Holding Back the Years
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| “Holding Back the Years” | |||||
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| Single by Simply Red from the album Picture Book |
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| Released | 1985 (original release) 1986 (re-release) |
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| Genre | Pop/Soul | ||||
| Length | 4:27 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Mick Hucknall | ||||
| Simply Red singles chronology | |||||
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| Picture Book track listing | |||||
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"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 only two Simply Red songs (the other being "If You Don't Know Me by Now") to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining at the top for two weeks. It also reached #2 in the UK and was a worldwide hit.
Frontman of the group, Mick Hucknall, wrote the song when he was a teenager. He recorded a version of the song with his first group The Frantic Elevators back 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.
This song was covered by Umphrey's McGee on their New Years Run on 29 December 2007.
[edit] 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.
[edit] General Election 2005
The song was also used as the soundtrack to a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in the 2005 general election campaign.
| Preceded by "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" by Billy Ocean |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single July 12 - July 18, 1986 |
Succeeded by "Invisible Touch" by Genesis |
