Simply Red - Holding Back The Years (1985)

“Holding Back the Years” is the seventh track on Simply Red‘s debut studio album Picture Book (1985). It ...

“Holding Back the Years” is the seventh track on Simply Red‘s debut studio album Picture Book (1985). It remains their most successful single, having reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. 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 in the US. It also reached number four on the Adult Contemporary 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.

Music video

The music video 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 who passes by. 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.