Holding Back the Years
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| "Holding Back the Years" | ||||
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| Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found. 1986 reissued UK 7-inch vinyl single | ||||
| Template:Infobox song/link by Simply Red | ||||
| from the album Picture Book | ||||
| B-side |
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| [[Songwriter|SongwriterTemplate:Pluralize from text]] |
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| [[Record producer|ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Stewart Levine | |||
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"Holding Back the Years" is a song by the English soul and pop band Simply Red, released as the third single from their debut studio album, Picture Book (1985). In 1986, the ballad[6] reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. "Holding Back the Years" had initially been released in the UK the year before, reaching number 51. The song was nominated in the category of Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background
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.[7][8][9]
The song's writing credits are shared between Hucknall and Neil Moss, a friend and member of Hucknall's first group, the Frantic Elevators.[10] 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.[7] 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.[7][6]
Hucknall's mother left the family when he was three: the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song.[11] 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".[7][9]
Music video
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.[12]
Track listings
Standard 7-inch single[13]
- A. "Holding Back the Years"
- B. "I Won't Feel Bad"
UK 7-inch single (1986)[14]
- A. "Holding Back the Years"
- B. "Drowning in My Tears"
Standard 12-inch single[15]
- A1. "Holding Back the Years"
- B1. "I Won't Feel Bad"
- B2. "Drowning in My Tears"
UK and Canadian 12-inch single (1986)[16][17]
- A1. "Holding Back the Years"
- B1. "Drowning in My Tears"
- B2. "Picture Book in Dub"
Charts
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Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[32] | Platinum | 0 |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[33] | Gold | 400,000 |
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‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Another Level version
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| "Holding Back the Years" | ||||
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| Template:Infobox song/link by Another Level | ||||
| A-side |
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| Released | 1999 | |||
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| Label | Northwestside | |||
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| [[Record producer|ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | D'Influence | |||
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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.[34]
Track listings
- UK CD1 single
- "Be Alone No More" (C & J remix) (featuring Jay-Z) – 3:31
- "Holding Back the Years" – 4:18
- "Girl What You Wanna Do" (full length version) – 5:27
- UK CD2 single
- "Holding Back the Years" (radio edit) – 4:18
- "Be Alone No More" (Full Intention radio edit) – 3:41
- "Be Alone No More" (C & J remix) – 3:31
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New Singles". Music Week. 2 November 1985. p. 16.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Search Simply Red".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gibbs, Ryan (15 November 2022). "An introduction to Sophisti-pop". In Between Drafts. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Toto Eclipse of the Heart: The Best of Eighties Soft Rock". Rolling Stone. 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Smith, Troy L. (13 May 2021). "Every No. 1 song of the 1980s ranked from worst to best". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
Hucknall manages to pull it off. Simply Red's catalog peaks with "Holding Back the Years," the blue-eyed soul song most suitable to Hucknall's smooth voice.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Holden, Stephen (11 March 1987). "Simply Red's 2D Album Blends Funk with Ballads". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simpson, Dave (27 November 2018). "Simply Red: how we made Holding Back the Years". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Mick Hucknall thanks Manchester for 'amazing start'". BBC News. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wintle, Angela (23 February 2013). "Mick Hucknall on his daily routine, going solo and etching". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Holding Back The Years". Simplyred.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davies, Hugh (19 June 2001). "Simply Red star cleared after arrest for rape". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (26 April 2009). "Simply Red – Holding Back The Years". Retrieved 25 January 2018 – via YouTube.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (1985). Holding Back the Years (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). Elektra Records. EKR 29.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). WEA. YZ 70, 248 704-7.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (1985). Holding Back the Years (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). Elektra Records. EKR 29T, 966 872-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). WEA. YZ 70T, 248 703-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (Canadian 12-inch single vinyl disc). Elektra Records. 96 68430.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 275. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 12 June 1988.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."European Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 3, no. 23. 14 June 1986. p. 13. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Simply Red". Sisältää hitin – 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in suomi). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 235. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 12 July 1986. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. 26 July 1986. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cash Box Top 100 Singles: July 5, 1986". Cash Box. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simply Red Chart History (Smooth Jazz Airplay)". Billboard. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Kent Music Report No 650 – 29 December 1986 > National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 10 December 2019 – via Imgur.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Jaaroverzichten 1986" (in Nederlands). Ultratop. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Top 100 Singles of '86". RPM. Retrieved 16 December 2020 – via Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1986" (in Nederlands). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Top 100 Singles". Music Week. 24 January 1987. p. 24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 52. 27 December 1986. p. Y-21.
- ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Type Holding Back the Years in the "Search:" field and press Enter.
- ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Select singles in the Formats field. Type Holding Back the Years Simply Red in the "Search:" field.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."ANOTHER LEVEL | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts.
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