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]
↑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.
↑Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). WEA. YZ 70, 248 704-7.
↑Simply Red (1985). Holding Back the Years (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). Elektra Records. EKR 29T, 966 872-0.
↑Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). WEA. YZ 70T, 248 703-0.
↑Simply Red (1986). Holding Back the Years (Canadian 12-inch single vinyl disc). Elektra Records. 96 68430.
↑Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.275. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 12 June 1988.
