I was a little surprised when I saw this music video. The singer didn’t look like what I expected at all! I don’t know what I really expected…shorter hair and maybe a suit. I don’t know. This guy looks like he was using the same hair products as The Cure’s Robert Smith. Oh well, it was the 80′s…
Holding Back the Years was released as a single in 1985 from the band’s debut album, Picture Book. It was their most successful single, charting at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and #2 in the UK after a re-release.
Frontman Mick Hucknall wrote the song when he was 17 while living with his father, his mother had walked out when he was only 3. He originally recorded it with a previous band, The Frantic Elevators, in 1979.
The lyrics describe the realization that time is easily wasted if you let sadness get the best of you. Even though it’s tough, you have to find a way to keep moving forward.