Simply Red is fronted by singer-songwriter Mick Hucknall ("Red" was his nickname because of his red hair). Hucknall's mom, Maureen Taylor, walked out on him and his barber father, Reg, when he was three. The pain caused by not having a mother inspired him to write this song.
Hucknall wrote this song in his bedroom at his father's house when he was 17. The inspiration for the song came from a teacher at the Manchester School of Art, where Hucknall studied fine art. The instructor suggested that the best paintings are created when the artist is in a state of unconscious creation, and Hucknall attempted to use this approach in his songwriting. "I wanted to do music, not art, so started writing lyrics that way," he told The Guardian. "The first song I wrote was called 'Ice Cream and Wafers.' The next was 'Holding Back the Years.'" Hucknall didn't realize what the song was about until he'd finished it. "It's about that moment where you know you have to leave home and make your mark, but the outside world is scary," he explained. "So you're holding back the years."
Strangled by the wishes of patermo Hoping for the arms of mater Get to me the sooner or later Hucknall's conflicts with his father during his teenage years inspired the "Strangled by the wishes of pater" line. He explained to The Guardian that the two frequently argued because there was no female presence to mediate the disputes.
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