The Living Years

The song was inspired by Mike Rutherford and BA Robertson realizing their fathers had died around the same time. They later learned that singer Paul Carrack's father had died when he was young. 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. 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. 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 ==

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of A♭ major and played in a time signature. ==Personnel==

Mike + The Mechanics • Mike Rutherford – electric rhythm guitar, bass guitar • Paul Carrack – lead vocals • Paul Young – backing vocals • Adrian Lee – keyboards • Peter Van Hooke – drums Additional personnel • Sal Gallina – keyboards • BA Robertson – keyboards • Alan Murphy – guitar • Martin Ditcham – percussion • Luís Jardim – percussion • Christopher Neil – backing vocals • Alan Carvell – backing vocals • Choir: Child and adult studio musicians, recorded in NYC studio separately ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

There are alternative recordings of the song, instrumental as well as vocal, reggae to classical crossover, from artists as diverse as 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. It is still a mainstay of Carrack's live performances today. ==References==