Mike + The Mechanics: The Living Years Meaning

Song Released: 1989

The Living Years Lyrics

Every generation blames the one before
And all of their frustrations come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner to all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage to all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could've told him in...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Dec 7th 2010 report

   This song is about living with regrets. He never had a good relationship with his father due to the vast differences in their generations (his father's generation was about hard work and responsibility while his generation was about having fun).
   
   His father passes away suddenly and he laments never having a chance to have a decent relationship with him. His advice is to fix your relationships "in the living years."
2. anonymous

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   Jul 4th 2018 report

   Family dysfunction is generational, and bitterness results from our silence. We break the cycle when we speak from the heart, and listen to the response. If the dysfunction is severe, there's hope if we hang in there, regardless of whether or not the relationship is healed.
3. kooljohn176

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   Dec 19th 2015 report

   A beautiful and tearful song sung in the Spirit of The Higher Power that he sees in his new born son, comforting their souls in His Presence, while thinking about his Father in the years that fell in remorse to harden on the self with guilt and shame to be just about the last person to forgive oneself for all the lost years not to spend with him before he died. While at the same time enduring the pain by reminding us, if possible to forgive, make peace and have a little gratitude for our Father to spend a little more time with him in ''The Living Years'' on this Earth before it's to late.