Simply Red: Holding Back The Years - On Top Of The Pops – 1986 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

Simply Red: Holding Back The Years - On Top Of The Pops – 1986 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

"Holding Back the Years" is a song by the British soul and pop band Simply Red, released as the third single from their debut studio album, Picture Book (1985). The ballad 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.

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.

Hucknall's mother left the family when he was three: the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song. However, 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".