The Living Years

"The Living Years" is a soft rock ballad written by B. A. Robertson and Mike Rutherford, and recorded by Rutherford's British rock band Mike + The Mechanics. It was released in December 1988 in the United Kingdom and in the United States as the second single from their album Living Years. The song was a chart hit around the world, topping the US Billboard 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 US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Paul Carrack sings lead vocals on the track.

This article is about the song by Mike + The Mechanics. For the album of the single, see Living Years. For the 2013 album The Living Years, see The Isaacs. For the One Tree Hill episode, see The Living Years (One Tree Hill episode).

"The Living Years"
Single by Mike + The Mechanics
from the album Living Years
B-side"Too Many Friends"
Released27 December 1988[1]
Recorded1988
GenreSoft rock
Length5:32
LabelAtlantic, WEA
Songwriter(s)B. A. Robertson, Mike Rutherford
Producer(s)Christopher Neil, Mike Rutherford
Mike + The Mechanics singles chronology
"Nobody's Perfect"
(1988)		 "The Living Years"
(1988)		 "Seeing Is Believing"
(1989)
Official video
"The Living Years" on YouTube

The song addresses a son's regret over unresolved conflict with his now-deceased father. It won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically in 1989,[3] and was nominated for four Grammy awards in 1990, including Record and Song of the Year, as well as Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Video. In 1996, famed composer Burt 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]

Background

The song was inspired by Mike Rutherford and B.A. Robertson realizing their fathers had died around the same time, and they later learned singer Paul 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.

Music video

The music video was directed by Tim Broad and premiered in January 1989. It was filmed in October 1988 in West Somerset, England, near Porlock Weir and the hamlet of Culbone.[7] The video features Mike Rutherford with his then-eight-year-old son, Tom. It also includes an appearance by actress Maggie Jones, best known for playing Blanche Hunt in the soap opera Coronation 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.

Composition

The song is entirely in the key of A♭ Major.[9]

Personnel

Mike + The Mechanics

Additional personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts
Chart (1988–1989) 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
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[25] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[26] 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[27] 5
West Germany (Official German Charts)[28] 13

Year-end charts
Chart (1989) Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[29] 3
United States (Billboard)[30][31] 31

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[32] Platinum 70,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[18] Gold  
New Zealand (RMNZ)[33] Platinum 10,000*
Sweden (GLF)[23] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Gold 400,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Covers

There are alternative recordings of the song,[35] instrumental as well as vocal, reggae to classical crossover, from artists as diverse as American country music band Alabama, Chris De Burgh, West End theatre star Michael Ball, Marcia Hines, Engelbert Humperdinck, James Last, The London Symphony Orchestra, Christian artist Russ Lee, Rhydian, John Tesh, Russell Watson, the London Community Gospel Choir, the Newsboys, The Isaacs, The Katinas, Japanese singer Kaho Shimada, Italian band Dik Dik and Michael English.

Mike + The Mechanics band member Paul 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.[36] It is still a mainstay of Carrack's live performances today.[37]

References
  1. "Mike And The Mechanics Discography - UK". 45cat.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. "Weekly Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 Songs from the First 50 Years, 1980–1989". Billboard.
  3. "Mike Rutherford". IMDb. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  4. "Do you know the ways to Monterey? Santa Fe? Whitley Bay?." Mojo. March 1996.
  5. "BMI London Awards: Song List". BMI. 5 October 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  6. "How I Wrote "The Living Years" by Mike + the Mechanics' Mike Rutherford". Songwriting. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  7. Davis, Mick; Lassman, David (30 March 2020). Visitors' Historic Britain: Somerset: Romans to Victorians. Pen and Sword History. ISBN 9781526706195 – via Google Books.
  8. "Obituary: Coronation Street's Maggie Jones". BBC News. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  9. "The Living Years (2014 Remastered)" on YouTube
  10. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  11. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  12. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  13. "Radio2 Top 30 Artiest: Mike & The Mechanics | Radio2". VRT (in Dutch). Top30-2.radio2.be. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  14. Nanda Lwin (1999). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. ISBN 1-896594-13-1.
  15. "RPM 100 Singles – April 15, 1989" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 24. p. 6. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  16. "RPM 100 Singles – April 8, 1989" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 23. p. 6. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  17. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Living Years". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  18. Tatsaku, Ren (2011). The Oricon Sales Report (in Japanese). Tokyo: Oricon Style – Recording Industry Association of Japan.
  19. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Mike & The Mechanics" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  20. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  21. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  22. "Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years". VG-lista. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  23. "Swedish single certifications – Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years" (in Swedish). Swedish Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  24. "Mike & The Mechanics". Official Charts. United Kingdom. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  25. "Mike + the Mechanics Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  26. "Mike + the Mechanics Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  27. "Mike + the Mechanics Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  28. "Offiziellecharts.de – Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  29. "Top Singles - Volume 51, No. 8, December 23, 1989". RPM. 23 December 1999. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  30. "1989 The Year in Music: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 101, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. Y-22.
  31. "Billboard Top 100 – 1989".
  32. "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – 1989". ARIA. Retrieved 29 November 2020 – via Imgur. N.B. The triangle symbol besides a title indicates platinum certification. The annual chart for 1989 listed on the ARIA website is missing some certifications.
  33. "New Zealand single certifications – Mike + The Mechanics – The Living Years". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  34. "British single certifications – Mike & the Mechanics – The Living Years". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  35. "The Living Years versions search". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  36. "Band biography". Houseofmanyrooms.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  37. "Paul Carrack Discography". Carrack-uk.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
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