Holding Back the Years

The group's frontman Mick Hucknall wrote the song when he was 17, while living at his father's house. In a 2018 interview, Hucknall said the song was inspired by a member of the teaching staff at Manchester School of Art, where Hucknall was a fine-art student: the lecturer suggested the greatest paintings are produced when the artist is working in a stream of consciousness, which Hucknall then tried to apply to songwriting – "Holding Back the Years" was the second song he wrote using this method.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/27/simply-red-how-we-made-holding-back-the-years-mick-hucknall |title=Simply Red: how we made Holding Back the Years |last=Simpson |first=Dave |date=27 November 2018 |work=The Guardian |access-date=29 November 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-manchester-20076598/mick-hucknall-thanks-manchester-for-amazing-start |title=Mick Hucknall thanks Manchester for 'amazing start' |date=24 October 2012 |publisher=BBC News|access-date=29 November 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9903633/Mick-Hucknall-on-his-daily-routine-going-solo-and-etching.html |title=Mick Hucknall on his daily routine, going solo and etching |last=Wintle |first=Angela |date=23 February 2013 |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=29 November 2018}}

The song's writing credits are shared between Hucknall and Neil Moss, a friend and member of Hucknall's first group, the Frantic Elevators.{{cite web |url=http://www.simplyred.com/simplyred/music-and-lyrics/picture-book/holding-back-the-years/ |title=Holding Back The Years |website=Simplyred.com |access-date=7 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030000517/http://www.simplyred.com/simplyred/music-and-lyrics/picture-book/holding-back-the-years/ |archive-date=30 October 2016 |url-status=dead }} According to Hucknall, Moss did not co-write the song, but the credit was added "to remember the great times we had" as the pair had written so many other songs together. The song was first performed by the Frantic Elevators. The song's "I'll keep holding on" chorus was not added until many years later, after the band had split and Hucknall had formed Simply Red.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D7163AF932A25750C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Simply Red's 2D Album Blends Funk with Ballads|work=The New York Times|date=11 March 1987|access-date=5 October 2008 | first=Stephen | last=Holden}}

Hucknall's mother left the family when he was three: the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song.{{cite news|url=https://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|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK |date=19 June 2001|access-date=11 October 2008 | first=Hugh | last=Davies}} According to Hucknall, he did not realise what the song was about until it was finished: he characterised it as a song "about that moment where you know you have to leave home and make your mark, but the outside world is scary. So you’re holding back the years". He said that the line "strangled by the wishes of pater" was inspired by arguments he had with his father: according to Hucknall, the two clashed often during his teenage years "because there was no woman to act as referee".

The accompanying music video for "Holding Back the Years" focuses on Mick Hucknall, who, while singing the song, walks through the English countryside and Whitby Abbey carrying luggage and thinking about his childhood memories and the difficult relationship he had with his father. The other members of Simply Red (except for Fritz McIntyre, who plays a one-man band) play local cricketers who greet Hucknall as he passes by and later watch him on the Whitby 199 steps. In the last part of the song, Hucknall is seen riding a train, the scenes for which were filmed at and around Goathland railway station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG07WSu7Q9w|title=Simply Red – Holding Back The Years|author=Simply Red|date=26 April 2009|access-date=25 January 2018|via=YouTube}}

Standard 7-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=Holding Back the Years|author=Simply Red|year=1985|type=UK 7-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Elektra Records|id=EKR 29}}

:A. "Holding Back the Years"

:B. "I Won't Feel Bad"

UK 7-inch single (1986){{cite AV media notes|title=Holding Back the Years|author=Simply Red|year=1986|type=UK 7-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=WEA|id=YZ 70, 248 704-7}}

:A. "Holding Back the Years"

:B. "Drowning in My Tears"

Standard 12-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=Holding Back the Years|author=Simply Red|year=1985|type=UK 12-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Elektra Records|id=EKR 29T, 966 872-0}}

:A1. "Holding Back the Years"

:B1. "I Won't Feel Bad"

:B2. "Drowning in My Tears"

UK and Canadian 12-inch single (1986){{cite AV media notes|title=Holding Back the Years|author=Simply Red|year=1986|type=UK 12-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=WEA|id=YZ 70T, 248 703-0}}{{cite AV media notes|title=Holding Back the Years|author=Simply Red|year=1986|type=Canadian 12-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Elektra Records|id=96 68430}}

:A1. "Holding Back the Years"

:B1. "Drowning in My Tears"

:B2. "Picture Book in Dub"

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Simply Red|title=Holding Back the Years|award=Gold|relyear=2004|certyear=2021|id=2954-666-1|access-date=28 September 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Holding Back the Years

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Another Level

| A-side =

• "Be Alone No More" (remix)
• (double A-side)

| released = 1999

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = {{hlist|R&B}}

| length = 4:18

| label = Northwestside

| writer = {{hlist|Mick Hucknall|Neil Moss}}

| producer = D'Influence

| prev_title = I Want You for Myself

| prev_year = 1999

| title = Be Alone No More (Remix)

| title2 = Holding Back the Years

| next_title = From the Heart

| next_year = 1999

}}

In 1999, English R&B boy band Another Level released their version as a double A-side with a remix of their earlier hit, "Be Alone No More". This release reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4285/another-level/ | title=ANOTHER LEVEL | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company | website=Official Charts }}

• UK CD1 single

1. "Be Alone No More" (C & J remix) (featuring Jay-Z) – 3:31
2. "Holding Back the Years" – 4:18
3. "Girl What You Wanna Do" (full length version) – 5:27

• UK CD2 single

1. "Holding Back the Years" (radio edit) – 4:18
2. "Be Alone No More" (Full Intention radio edit) – 3:41
3. "Be Alone No More" (C & J remix) – 3:31

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Simply Red singles}}

{{Another Level}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1985 songs

Category:1985 singles

Category:1986 singles

Category:1999 singles

Category:Simply Red songs

Category:Another Level (band) songs

Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles

Category:Elektra Records singles

Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles

Category:Pop ballads

Category:Songs about heartache

Category:Songs written by Mick Hucknall

Category:Song recordings produced by D'Influence

Category:Warner Music Group singles

Category:1980s ballads