Holding Back The Years – Simply Red

"Rodney, you plonker," may be a strange way to start a blog post about a great song. But if you know the reference your probably ahead of me. In my favourite ever British sitcom 'Only Fools and Horses' this song is used in the episode that younger brother Rodney gets married. It's a fantastic scene at the very end of an eventful wedding day, Rodney finds Del Boy his older brother alone stood by the buffet table to say his goodbyes. Del is stood there on his own with this song playing out in the background, if an emotion in song could ever sum up the feelings of a moment I think this would be hard to beat.

At this point in the programs history we'd been through many ups and downs with the Trotter brothers and realise the impact this one moment was going to have on changing Del's life. Any one with a brother or sister they are close to probably know that feeling, there is such a sense of joy for them mixed with feelings of losing them to someone else. John Sullivan the programs writer was a genius in capturing real life and then making it so enjoyable to watch. Fools and Horses had a great soundtrack through it's lifetime, good old fashioned knees ups and some classic tunes always managing to add to the flow of the fun or setting the scene.

The song itself is so well constructed and thoughtful, you just enjoy the simplicity of the backing. It takes a real listen to realise the singer is in a bad way, only just holding on. Trying to grab the past and admitting to wasting the opportunities of his life. My favourite lyric below is a good indication of the singer's feeling, he's got to the end of the song and that's all he's prepared to say. Enough said.

Favourite lyric: It's all I have today / It's all I have to say