| "The Living Years" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byMike + The Mechanics | ||||
| from the albumLiving Years | ||||
| B-side | "Too Many Friends" | |||
| Released | 27 December 1988[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 5:32 | |||
| Label | Atlantic,WEA | |||
| Songwriter(s) | B. A. Robertson,Mike Rutherford | |||
| Producer(s) | Christopher Neil, Mike Rutherford | |||
| Mike + The Mechanics singles chronology | ||||
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| Official video | ||||
| "The Living Years" onYouTube | ||||
"The Living Years" is asoft rock ballad written byB. A. Robertson andMike Rutherford, and recorded by Rutherford's rock bandMike + The Mechanics. It was released in December 1988 in the United Kingdom and in the United States as the second single from their albumLiving Years. The song was a chart hit around the world, topping the USBillboard Hot 100 on 25 March 1989, the band's only number one and last top ten hit on that chart,[2] and reaching number-one in Australia, Canada and Ireland and number 2 in the UK. It spent four weeks at number-one on the USBillboard Adult Contemporary chart.Paul Carrack sings lead vocals on the track.
The song addresses a son's regret over unresolved conflict with his now-deceased father. It won theIvor Novello Award forBest Song Musically and Lyrically in 1989,[3] and was nominated for four Grammy awards in 1990, includingRecord andSong of the Year, as well asBest Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals andBest Video. In 1996, famed composerBurt Bacharach opined that the song was one of the finest lyrics of the last ten years.[4]
In 2004, "The Living Years" was awarded a 4-Million-Air citation by BMI.[5]
The song was inspired byMike Rutherford andB.A. Robertson realizing their fathers had died around the same time, and they later learned singerPaul Carrack's father had died when he was young, as well.[6]
Rutherford said:[6]
Being of similar age, we both came from an era where our parents had lived through two world wars, when young men wanted to be like their fathers – wear the same clothes, do the same things. But then there was a huge change and our generation wanted to be anything but their fathers. It wasn't our parents' fault, there was just a big social change. Pop music had come along, The Beatles, denim trousers... for the first time, teens had their own culture. That's how our generation couldn't really talk to our parents in the same way.
So we had the idea of writing a song about how you never really talk to your father, and you miss out on these things.
The music video was directed byTim Broad and premiered in January 1989. It was filmed in October 1988 inWest Somerset, England, nearPorlock Weir and the hamlet ofCulbone.[7] The video features Mike Rutherford with his then-eight-year-old son, Tom. It also includes an appearance by actressMaggie Jones, best known for playingBlanche Hunt in thesoap operaCoronation Street.[8]
The video also shows the group playing the song (with Paul Young playing keyboards), with two sets of choirs singing the chorus with them, an all-boys church choir and an adult choir.
The song is entirely in the key ofA♭ Major.[9]
| Chart (1988–1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[10] | 1 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[11] | 18 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[12] | 25 |
| Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders)[13] | 22 |
| Canada Top Singles (The Record)[14] | 4 |
| Canada Retail Singles (RPM)[15] | 2 |
| Canada RPM 100 (RPM)[16] | 1 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[17] | 1 |
| Japan (Oricon International)[18] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[19] | 20 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[20] | 20 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21] | 11 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[22] | 10 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[23] | 6 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[24] | 2 |
| USCash Box Top 100[25] | 1 |
| USAdult Contemporary (Billboard)[26] | 1 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[27] | 1 |
| USMainstream Rock (Billboard)[28] | 5 |
| West Germany (GfK)[29] | 13 |
| Chart (1989) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[30] | 3 |
| USCash Box Top 100[31] | 9 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[32][33] | 31 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[34] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Japan (RIAJ)[18] | Gold | |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[35] | Platinum | 10,000* |
| Sweden (GLF)[23] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[36] | Gold | 400,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
There are alternative recordings of the song,[37] instrumental as well as vocal, reggae to classical crossover, from artists as diverse asAlabama,Chris De Burgh, West End theatre starMichael Ball,Marcia Hines,Engelbert Humperdinck,James Last, TheLondon Symphony Orchestra, Christian artistRuss Lee,Rhydian,John Tesh,Russell Watson, theLondon Community Gospel Choir, theNewsboys,The Isaacs,The Katinas, Japanese singerKaho Shimada, Italian bandDik Dik andMichael English.
Mike + The Mechanics band memberPaul Carrack, who performed the original lead vocal, has made a number of solo interpretations. His father died in an industrial accident when Carrack was eleven, making the lyrics particularly poignant for him.[38] It is still a mainstay of Carrack's live performances today.[39]
