Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

October 5, 2015

One of my all time favorites is this one by the 80’s British group Simply Red – Holding Back the Years. It came out in 1985 only 7 years after I had left England, but it felt like a hundred years. This song reminds me of those years in London, and I can see the neighborhood I lived in, the streets I roamed, all of it. This song is also timeless in melody – a sweet jazzy tune that is great for early mornings around town or late nights reading in bed.

Mike Hucknall, lead singer for Simply Red, wrote this song in 1977 when he was 17 (which explains why it reminds me of London because that was the last year we lived there). He wrote it to get through feelings of his mother’s leaving the family and probably trying to live up to his father’s expectations. To date it is Simply Red’s most recognizable and best song and it’s no wonder – between the lyrics and the music it is a knockout. Here’s my take on it.

Holding Back the Years by Simply Red

Holding back the years
Thinking of the fear I’ve had so long
When somebody hears
Listen to the fear that’s gone

Trying to hold back feelings that you have stuffed for a long time and trying to make sense of them can seem like trying to hold back a tidal wave. Eventually it does have to be dealt with and it sounds like he was young enough to realize what was going on and to try to move on from it.

Strangled by the wishes of pater
Hoping for the arm of mater
Get to me the sooner or later

I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on

This is so personal – his father probably wanting his son to fit into his shoes and desperately needing the mother who he loved but wasn’t there. He just kept holding on trying to make it all work. Maybe holding on until he could leave home?

Holding back the years
Chance for me to escape from all I know
Holding back the tears
Cause nothing here has grown

Leaving home at a young age and hoping you can make a better life. You know that whatever relationship you’ve been in isn’t working and you need to move on. This is his experience with his family but it could also be about any relationship that simply hasn’t grown for one reason or another and you just can’t try anymore.

I’ve wasted all my tears
Wasted all those years
Nothing had the chance to be good
Nothing ever could, yeah

These are my favorite lines and I know them so well. Year after year trying to make things better and crying and begging for things to be different, but you know it’s never going to happen.

I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on so tight

I’ve wasted all my tears
Wasted all those years
And nothing had the chance to be good
Nothing ever could

I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
I’ll keep holding on
Holding, holding, holding, yeah

In the video for this song Mike Hucknall is walking through a grave yard. Maybe a metaphor for laying all the tears, fears, longing to rest as he begins a new life on his own? Looks like it to me. Of course, I always try to find meaning in these things. Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it just is what it is.

That’s all I have today
It’s all I have to say

Well, it might have been all he had to say but he said a lot! For many of us he touched a place in our hearts that only we thought was there.

Phew – pass the tissues please. Anyway, that’s all I have for today and I’ve several tunes lined up for the next few weeks so come back again and take a listen.

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» Music Monday » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

October 5, 2015

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