My father was an abusive alcoholic. With all his faults, I still loved him. He passed away when he was 57 and I was 20. The last time I saw him, he asked me to drive him to his brother's house, my uncle, 4 hours away. I told him I couldn't because I had to be at work in 4 hours. He asked me to take him to the Greyhound bus station which I did. I waited until his bus left and I remember him waving goodbye as the bus pulled away and I smiled and waved back. That was the last time I saw him alive. He died 2 days later in his sleep. Hands folded across his chest as told by my Uncle who found him. Driving to the funeral.,,,, this song came on the radio. I was alone in my car driving south on Interstate 55. I had to pull over. I was crying too hard to drive. Right turn signal on, sitting on the shoulder of the road and a Hiway Patrolman pulled in behind me and came up to my car. I told him the story. That I was to broken up to drive. I just needed a few minutes to gather myself. He then ask where was the funeral. I told him about 30 more miles ahead. He told me to follow him that he would give me an escort to the funeral home as he knew exactly where it was. A great man that had just lost his father 1 month before. As we approached the funeral home, he pulled over and me following stopped behind him. He came back to my car and told me the funeral home was 1 block ahead, be proud, be strong and you will make it through this. I did. But every time I hear this song, it reminds me of that evening. Following a State Patrol with lights , and getting an escort to the funeral. I wish I could talk to my father now. When I turned 57. I realized that I had outlived my father.
I had physically abusive parents I has a step dad from an early age I could’ve he treated me totally different from my sisters the beatings from both of them really affected me asi got older my relationship with them was difficult as I got older I left home when I was 13 lived on the streets for a few years finally met someone and settled down. Many years later as my marriage was just about over I went back home till i could find a place. I was hardly there I worked overtime and shifts that I chose just so as I wouldn’t be there much .. I eventually found some where but alway had them at arm’s length. One evening I’d only been in an hour 10.30pm it was dad came home I could feel the tension from out of no where he said he never loved me and surprising it didn’t affect me because I already new. I didn’t tell my siblings for a few years I didn’t speak to him for years after my sister told me he was dying and he was asking for me I really didn’t want to see him it was my girlfriend at the time said this is a good time to ask him why….after a few days of thinking about it I decided to visit so I asked him why.. why the beatings why didn’t he love me.. his reply was I don’t no what you’re on about .. I got up and left never to go bk … 13 years later it’s still hurts because he was my dad wether he loved me or not I loved him I never did drugs or alcohol never brought any trouble to the house I just can’t understand why
@@John-q2y9kYou were loveable but some people just can't show love even to a child. I think you did the right thing and even gave the opportunity for an explanation. Well done for that. Just because you didn't get one it doesn't mean an explanation didn't exist. But it wouldn't have changed the wrong. Sometimes we just have to decide to forgive in our hearts and move away from the harmful people in our lives. Forgiveness doesn't mean excusing wrong... it just means learning from it, making appropriate decisions to get away from whoever is injuring you, one moving on with your life, leaving them to their own outcomes. You did that. 💪🏼🙂
Thank you for sharing. Less than 2 weeks ago I surpassed my father's age in passing. I appreciate how this video and how your comment made it to me. Peace
I lost my Dad in March, and it’s fair to say your comment made me cry. It didn’t help that this was one of his favourite songs. Blessings, my friend. ❤
My father was 94, he died peacefully, and I was holding his hand. I spent the last years of his life listening to his stories, laughing about growing up, sharing our memories, told him every day I loved him. I hear this song and think of all that wasn't said............there is never enough time.
My wife died in 2020 - not even at 40 - my mum in 2021 and my father in 2022. I hardly can bear listening to this song - being one of my childhood favorites though - i still sing along with tears in my eyes, only now i really understand. And that's what they tried to tell me all those years. Life is wonderful - nobody said it's easy.
My father passed away a few months ago. Two days later I’m at a Publix buying groceries for a meal I was making for my family. I’m picking up baguette bread for the spaghetti I was making and this song came on over the PA system. Needless to say, I broke down in the aisle hugging a baguette and people were looking at me like “damn he must really love bread” I did tell my dad to give me a sign if he’s around. He didn’t disappoint
That's what I'm afraid of. About to turn 18 and my fathers getting old. He can't care for me anymore and the real world is starting to dawn on me now. A bit scary
True. Completely ignored the story of this song when I heard it as a teen but still old enough to know. Then my father died of a stroke when I was 26 and the next time I heard this it completely tore me apart. Then felt like an idiot. Still do!
Yep. These two Americans don't even know Mike of 'Mike and the Mechanics' was in Genesis with Phil Collins. These two American youtubers don't know much. Disappointing.
Paul Carrack's lead vocals are just wonderful, and I love that they used a middle aged and older choir, to represent and emphasise the age group of the people the song was written about. 🙋♂
You are too young to be a "Baby Boomer", the defination of a Baby Boomer is someone who was born shortly after World War II to re-populate the Western World countries. I was born in 1956, eleven years after WW2, so I am a Baby Boomer.
@@davidmacgregor5193 -- How do you know when she was born and that she isn't a Boomer? She merely said that she is proud to be a BB and that the song was made in 1989. How do you get from that statement that she isn't a BB??
I wasn't there that morning,when my father passed away,I didn't get to tell him,all the things I had to say....I think I caught his spirit, later that same year,I'm sure I heard his echo,in my baby's newborn tears,I just wish I could have told him,IN THE LIVING YEARS!😭
I told both my parents what I thought of them ‘ in the living years. I remember walking into the kitchen in the 1970s and said to both of them, .”If I had a choice of a thousand parents, I’d pick both of you.”. They looked at me rather surprised. I said, I mean it. The smiled. I don’t remember what happened next. But I honestly meant it. Dad passed in his sleep in his own bed aged 89. Mum passed aged 95 only one hour in hospital. Yup I cried through that as I still miss them. There’s good, wonderful parents and not so good parents and children in every single generation before us and generations to come.
Aww, Mary gets a thumbs up just because she can retype the lyrics with absolutely no commentary? Sheesh. People, Look up Chris Korda. Please do not increase the surplus population.
Another scary fact. If you ever saw the film Back to the Future you'd know that Marty goes back to the year 1955. In present day, that would be the same as us going back to 1994
What’s weird is these guys don’t look young to me. Perhaps they’re older millennials or younger gen x? Not boomers, or they wouldn’t have mentioned boomers when blaming the generation before.
Depends on the relationship with your parents. It doesn’t make me sad as my parents aren’t in my life and haven’t been my whole adulthood. If it’s a small quarrel it’s much easier to solve or think you could have done something or said something. My mother passed in 2022 and I felt nothing. No regrets, no sorrow. I was more upset when my cat died because of the relationship we had
Don’t pick it apart. It’s one of those songs that has a message. Either you’ve lost someone important or not, and if you’re like most people on earth you will have regrets. If you listen to the message of this song, you won’t. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make amends, because you will regret it for the rest of your life.
My 2 evil stepbrothers kept me from visiting my stepfather when he was dying. When the younger brother divorced his wife she called me on the phone. She said she always wanted to tell me something important but couldn't whilst still married into the family. She said that while he was dying and very weak my stepfather often asked for me. He couldn't understand why I hadn't come to see him. He died thinking I simply hadn't cared when in fact his 2 sons played every card to keep me away, in case he decided to split the inheritance 3 ways. This song brings it all up. My stepfather looked after me along with his 2 sons after my mother abandoned me. I've never met my biological father so my stepdad was very important to me. I cry every time I hear this beautiful song
Your stepfather may have not known then, but he knows exactly why you weren't there now. He is not puzzled now, he's fne and wants you to be too. Just enjoy the beauty of the song as you think of him.
A good friend of mine was adopted as a baby and with his adopted parents blessing found his natural father who was please to meet him. However his step brothers threatened him if he ever visited again saying he was only after a share of the inheritance (a fish and chip shop). He was already successful and that success grew (he now lives in Thailand and is very wealthy) and told them he wasn't interested in the money but they repeated their threat. He was later contacted by them after his natural fathers death when they discovered his wealth wanting to patch things up. He told them it was his father he wanted to get to know and not them and for them to never contact him again, they were very angry at his rejection.
he knows the truth. he will guide you and bless you now with your share of abundance. It will come in another way or form. Just open up to this and one day your will see it. He loved you - most important.
I remember this song as a teen in the 80s. My father passed away in 2017. It was and will never be forgotten as the worst day of my life. I too “wasn’t there that morning when my father passed away.” But I told him the night before that he was my only hero and I loved him. I am a priest and I was offering Mass for him when he passed away. That was my only consolation. I had the greatest dad.
Hi from London England. This was my Dads favourite song, he loved it. It was played at his funeral last year, it was tough. It breaks my heart now listening to this beautiful song but I can't resist it because it brings my Dad back to me. I wasn't with my Dad when he passed either, I was out of town.
The Mike in Mike and the Mechanics is Michael Rutherford from Genesis. This was his side project band when he didn't record with Genesis. It's an underrated band.
The 80's was probably the most diverse period of music that I've ever heard. In the UK we had new bands like OMD, Duran Duran, The Human league, Soft Cell, New Order, Bronski beat, The Christians, Madness, The Specials, The Cure, layered on top of that we had the older bands still releasing stuff Like David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Genesis, Pink Floyd/Roger Waters, Queen, ELO. There were litterally 100's of bands releasing stuff from multiple genre's it was a special period in the UK. Yes some of it was heavily produced using drum machines etc but so much of it was Brilliant!
Okay to be fair, you named a lot of the best artists from that time lol. We definitely appreciate the music, and even really like some of it. Just not our typical daily listeners.
The last 8 years of my sisters life i stopped talking to her because she was doing reaally bad on drugs and not doing right by her children and she would just tell me lies and i was fed up with her. She was killed in a car accident 3 years ago. Hearing this song that ive heard since it came out makes me just feel so guilty now about her. I should have kept trying to help her no matter what. I was on drugs before and without my family i would still be there. This aong just hit me hard. Sorry for venting. Good reaction. I thought you had changed the name of your channel so i was surprised to see this notification!
Wow,so sad! It's so hard to know what to do in the case of addiction...You admitted to the same struggles,so you know....I know your sister passed,but I believe she can still hear you.Tell her everything you feel and how much you love her,and then give it to God! LOVE NEVER DIES❣
So you f'd up. Your family was there for you, but you weren't there for your sister. I do not feel sorry for you.I do not pity you, I Think you are looking for sympathy.You're not getting it from me
This is the exact story of me and my dad. It makes me cry every time I hear it. He passed in 2019 after I hadn't seen him in a few years. We always had a difficult relationship, despite loving each other. I wish I could take it all back.
This song started a conversation with my father that carried on until he died. We shared much in common, but had many differences, and found a way to talk through those differences. Sometimes he moved his opinions my direction. I am forever grateful to Mike and the Mechanics. Pops asked that it be played at his memorial, with me explaining why the song came to mean so much. So I ended my eulogy with this song. I’ll be making a trip to the grave today. This song always makes me make that trip. God I miss that man. He will always be my hero
This song was played at Dad’s graveside as my younger brother insisted. The lyrics explain the kind of relationship he and Dad had. I have four siblings but was really close to my father and was the only one with him when he passed away in hospital. Dad’s 20th anniversary will be on 24 May. This is the first time I have listened to this song all the way through since the funeral. Thank you for sharing your reaction 😢💔🙏🕊️.
My god. The music wasn’t up to standards??? No auto tune back then. This was raw pure talent. “New” music is so over produced no one needs any real talent. Back in the ‘80’s people like Steve Perry, Freddy Mercury,Jeff Lynn, Paul Carrack all sounded as good, if not better live. Try that today.
I'm a boomer. I was 25 when my father died one morning. We were just starting to get along. My little almost 5 year olddaughter was his pride and joy. She has his red hair. This is one of the most serious songs of the 80's. You have to watch days music. If you take away auto tune and synthesizers, their voices aren't worth a damn.
This song gets me every time. The video is beautiful, but this song is about the problems men have with expressing their feelings and giving affection, even though they love their children. My dad never hugged me and I found out as an adult that he wasn't my natural father and that my biological father died when I was two, so this song is multi layered with regret for me.
Mike Rutherford was with the genius Phil Collins in Genises, seen them live at Wembley Arena. Lucky me. I'm so old, I've seen them all. Love from London. Jan 😊
So glad I saw this reaction. Haven't heard this song in FOREVER!!! This song came out not long before my father died. My Dad was my rock. And when he died, I wasn't there. I was only a few miles away with my brother. We were told it would be weeks. He died while I was at my brother's house. After that, every time I heard this song it broke me. Even now.....35 years later.....hearing this song.... I'm in tears because I didn't get to say good bye.
@@davidhuggan6315Not just Mike, but also the father of the song's co-writer, B.A. Robertson. And both he and Mike are godfathers to each other's sons. This song touched a lot of people's emotions, from Chris de Burgh (who upon hearing it for the first time while he was driving had to pull over) and Anthony Phillips (Mike's former Genesis bandmate). Even Paul Carrack had a deep connection to it. And I bet Phil Collins did, too, since his own father passed away on Christmas Day 1972.
I would change the radio station. If that's what it takes to keep your composure, do it! It's okay to cry, but songs like these have a way of COMPOUNDING people's grief.
When I was a surly, sullen teen, my father and I got into a bad fight. Things were said, doors slammed and music turned up so I couldn't hear him anymore. Living Years came on within one or two songs, and it hit me like a truck; I bawled a while, went and apologized. Mike, of the ,,,,and the Mechanics, is Mike Rutherford, formerly of Genesis with Phil Collins.
I would have changed the station and turned up the radio louder. I absolutely can be sullen if others don't treat me right or if they're not agreeable. I won't back down when I believe I'm in the right. Still, this was a bizarre coincidence.
@@humeyboytechnically speaking, they were mostly just the remnants of Genesis when the band "broke up." The Traveling Wilburys was a collection of superstar musicians/artists who came together mostly by accident to form a supergroup. Cream was the very first Supergroup to be formed. At the time, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were the very best of the best with their respective instruments and were major stars in their own right.
I wasn’t there when MY father passed away…. He had leukemia and was in Oklahoma City, I lived in Corpus Christi, Tx. in 1974. My parents were divorced two years, I was 9, my dad was 34. This song hits me EVERY SINGLE TIME. My brother just passed in February from leukemia, he lived in Hawaii and I’m in Houston, Texas. If you still have your parents and siblings, tell them you love them every chance you get. You just never know when the last time you speak to them if it truly is the last time.
That’s horrible. I’m so sorry you lost your dad at such a young age, and your brother recently. We definitely try to always let our loved ones know how much we care about them.
Of course but I want you to watch the TV and tell me what generation is it do you see reporting on the news or in political positions? I see boomers and gen x... we needed an adult in the room to not even entertain the woke but they fueled it. Now you can't say gay, 8 year olds in school are learning about the 32 different genders they can pick from and basic homes are now 400k minimum to buy.
I thlnk our own age determines whether we see the blame lying at the door of the generation(s) before or the generation(s) after. Even then, it's unfair to lay the blame for ALL the problems at the door of one particular generation. As a man now in his mid-sixties, the current RULING generation is mostly people of my age, so if I'm honest, I think I need to blame many of the ills of the world on my own generation. The degeneration of society on the other hand is down to the later generations, since they're the ones who seem to be making the social rules these days, for better or for worse. I can't really bring myself to blame 'the generations before' because whatever problems they brought down upon us, we've had plenty of time to put those right, rather than just blaming it on our predecessors.
My Father was a WWII vet! Truck driver ex-boxer in the Army TOUGH AS NAILS!! And I worshiped the ground he walked on!! And so did everyone in or family....
I love my dad with all my heart he will be 90 this September but was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February then suddenly my lovely mum passed away two weeks ago ago from pneumonia.We have her funeral this Friday.I wish they could be here forever,I’ve spent so much time with them but it’s gone too quickly.
This song has done me in since it first came out, 35 years ago, my dad worked abroad from when i was 10 until i was 27. I only saw him a few weeks a year. I still cant listen to this without welling up and feeling the loss really bad. My wife cant believe how it hits me if it comes on because my dad is still alive today!!
I'm an 80s kid and must have heard this song hundreds of times on the radio back then. Now, however, I'm a few short months away from losing my dad to cancer. I definitely don't have any animosity toward my dad, but we don't have a lot in common. I'm not in the habit of talking to him about important stuff. I have no idea how to start, even knowing the end is coming soon. This song kept popping up in my TH-cam feed. I'm listening and getting up the courage to listen and talk to him more.
I hope that you will find something meaningful to talk with him about. Sometimes you don't really need to say a lot. I'm sure he will appreciate you being there.❤️❤️❤️
When my dad passed, we weren’t allowed to see him in the hospital….this was during cvd….I would talk to him on the phone….and the nurses would put the phone next to his ear….and all i heard was the breathing machine…I would read to him, and talk to him about everyone, that he was in their thoughts and prayers….I wasn’t doing well physically and mentally, I was taking care of everything, talking to the doctors, talking to his friends and relatives…talking with my mom and try to keep her hopes up……as i was talking to him, the dr picked up the phone, and said he was sleeping, and had to rest, but there was still so much to say…he passed away the next morning…i never finished telling him what I wanted to….I never got to say goodbye…and that I loved him….
You could have a lifetime and still not say everything you had to say then. With every passing year that message will grow in your mind. You did what you could in the time allowed, that is all any of us can do. Make peace with that my friend, we all fall short of perfection.
I'm 70 and it still makes me cry because it's so true, my father died last yr age 90 got to know him more in the last two yrs of his life than for all the rest.
So sorry for your loss. It somehow seems more painful when you didn’t have a relationship with them and just started to prior to their passing. I am glad to hear he made it to such an age 🫶🏻
I got off at three AM and stopped by the hospice where my seventy-seven-year-old father lay. He was dying of COPD. He wasn't able to know that I was there. When I left in my truck this song played. It was just too ironic and yes I relive that time every time I hear this song.
How can you say that this has a similarity to 'In the Air Tonight'? Music from the '60s, '70s and '80s is probably the best ever made. It's certainly, with some exceptions from either perspective, way better than anything we've heard since 2010!
Mike Rutherford was the guitarist from Genesis, and the song dates from the mid 70's to early 80's. And it made me realize I needed to go and speak to my own father before it was too late, and thank him for all he did for us in bringing up me and my sister. And just talk to him as a grown man and not as his son. I still remember hugging him at Heathrow Airport and realizing it was probably the first time I'd ever given my father a real hug. I still feel it was one of the most meaningful things I ever did with my father. He died a few years later. Listen to the songs words and talk to your parents they to have their story.
Glasgow... My family is Scottish too. Thank you for your story. My father died at 67 after a life of drinking. I'm 66... My parents came by the house to see me and my boys one Saturday. When I said goodbye he gave me a big hug and a kiss and said he loved me. That was unusual. I was going to go visit them the next Saturday but something "important" came up (I can't even remember what it was) so I called to say I'd see him the following weekend. Well, he died that Monday and I got the call from my secretary on the way to work. I had to pull over too, I was crying so much. I drove to see my mother and on the way I stopped at the hospital to see him. I managed to make my way into the morgue. I turned right around and thought I want my final image of him to be that hug and kiss. Thank you again for your story.
Well you saying Phil Collins, well there is a connection with this band. The guy with the beard with his young son was in the band Genesis with Phil Collins that’s why the song sounded like his songs.
@@davidgreer4615 Well Phil was the drummer in Genesis when Mike was still in the band, Phil did backing vocals whilst drumming, Peter Gabriel was the lead singer, when Peter left that’s when Phil became the lead singer not Mike. Mike was still in the band as the guitarist. so he had input too in the sound of the songs, Phil’s solo stuff also sounded like Genesis and this song.
@@davidgreer4615 actually Mike Rutherford started the band when Genesis was taking a break. I was at their last concert before that break. Mike, Tony, and Phil went on to do more solo stuff, then got back together briefly but then Phil left for a solo career.
My dad used to play this all the time when we were kids. When you're a kid, it's fun just to sing along... Wasn't until I was in middle school that it hit me like a ton of bricks. I really was getting into song writing and poetry. Really started to understand the true meaning behind the song. It's probably one of the most underrated ballads of its time.
Played this song at my father's funeral, it breaks me every time because when he died of cancer I didn't get to tell him how I felt and this song tells my story perfectly
Written by Mike Rutherford (and that's his little boy with him in the video) and BA Robertson, this is their take---"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."
Oh, but I do. Previous generations sucked to put it bluntly. I was born at the tail end of Generation X and folks from the Boomer/ Silent/ (Not So) Greatest generations are just mean. I have more hope for the later generations. I don't mean to sound rude, but people have been insensitive to me for my entire life.
This song came out a month after my own dad passed, I was 38, and we never got on, he suffered from depression after ww11, made our lives hell, but over time I forgave him, it invokes many feelings in many people in different ways. So my message is this, whatever problems a family or couple face, heal the rift, for as the song says, it’s too late when we die, those left are the ones hurting. Great site guys, glad you liked the song ,and the message it sends
I’m glad you were able to make amends. It’s hard having relationships like that. That’s how I try to live my life… basically a “if they died tomorrow, would I regret not having them in my life?” type of thing.
irishman here i had a bad relationship with my dad didnt see or speak to his for 15 years then rushed home when he was dying of cancer he held on till i arrived and died 30 minutes later 5 years after i went to a van morrison concert in chester england , mike and the mechanics were the warm up band they played this song and i could handle it and walked out for a wee cry on my own, never even saw van morrison
The Wikipedia entry states that Mike Rutherford was in the video with his the. 8 year old son, Tom, and Mike Rutherford’s entry states that Tom was born in 1980 so this was definitely filmed in late 1988, I remember in early 1989, a company showed up at my school, called aTriMax or something where they showed us a movie with 3 projectors and it was set to this song until the 1992-93 school year when they changed it to Van Halen’s right now song.
I am getting older, (in my 50s), but I try to keep everything in perspective. There is a very old quote (over 2000 years ago) attributed to either Socrates or Plato. It is: "Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.” It has ALWAYS been that the older generations think the younger generations are worse. They're not, they are just different, and as we get older, we get more set in our ways. Great song for all generations to hear. Thanks for sharing!
No problem it was regardless of personal preference an enjoyable experience. If it wasn't for this channel and of the recommendations of others I probably wouldn't venture out on my own to even try to listen to new things. We created this channel to discover and explore because it is fun. I was the type of person that listened to the same 3 or 4 favorite albums for years and rejected anything new. I'm a metal head that played drums in a Metalcore band so I used to not even entertain the possibilities of other music outside that genre. Thanks for the Socrates or Plato quote it was very enlightening
This song hits home with me big time. My wife was pregnant with our 1st son. My father did pass away 5 months before his 1st grandson was born. I was on a training mission in California the day he passed. There was I wanted to talk to him about and didn't get the chance. ❤
My father passed away 3 years ago. I only heard about his death 2 years after he died... I wasnt there that morning when my father passed away. I didnt get to tell him all the things I had to say.... Love you Dad.
I wasn't there that morning,when my father passed away I didn't get to tell him ,all the things I had to say I think I caught his spirit later that same year, I'm sure I heard his echo in my baby's new born tears, I just wish I could've told him,in the living years....... Those lines always gets me. Damn.....
Mike and the Machine bring lots of bad memories when I first came to the United States from the civil unrest in Liberia and this song was on the radio. When I heard the tears ran down my face because this song is everything I should have said to my parents in the living years .
My father was an abusive alcoholic. With all his faults, I still loved him. He passed away when he was 57 and I was 20. The last time I saw him, he asked me to drive him to his brother's house, my uncle, 4 hours away. I told him I couldn't because I had to be at work in 4 hours. He asked me to take him to the Greyhound bus station which I did. I waited until his bus left and I remember him waving goodbye as the bus pulled away and I smiled and waved back. That was the last time I saw him alive. He died 2 days later in his sleep. Hands folded across his chest as told by my Uncle who found him. Driving to the funeral.,,,, this song came on the radio. I was alone in my car driving south on Interstate 55. I had to pull over. I was crying too hard to drive. Right turn signal on, sitting on the shoulder of the road and a Hiway Patrolman pulled in behind me and came up to my car. I told him the story. That I was to broken up to drive. I just needed a few minutes to gather myself. He then ask where was the funeral. I told him about 30 more miles ahead. He told me to follow him that he would give me an escort to the funeral home as he knew exactly where it was. A great man that had just lost his father 1 month before. As we approached the funeral home, he pulled over and me following stopped behind him. He came back to my car and told me the funeral home was 1 block ahead, be proud, be strong and you will make it through this. I did. But every time I hear this song, it reminds me of that evening. Following a State Patrol with lights , and getting an escort to the funeral. I wish I could talk to my father now. When I turned 57. I realized that I had outlived my father.
I felt every single word of your story
I had physically abusive parents I has a step dad from an early age I could’ve he treated me totally different from my sisters the beatings from both of them really affected me asi got older my relationship with them was difficult as I got older I left home when I was 13 lived on the streets for a few years finally met someone and settled down. Many years later as my marriage was just about over I went back home till i could find a place. I was hardly there I worked overtime and shifts that I chose just so as I wouldn’t be there much .. I eventually found some where but alway had them at arm’s length. One evening I’d only been in an hour 10.30pm it was dad came home I could feel the tension from out of no where he said he never loved me and surprising it didn’t affect me because I already new. I didn’t tell my siblings for a few years I didn’t speak to him for years after my sister told me he was dying and he was asking for me I really didn’t want to see him it was my girlfriend at the time said this is a good time to ask him why….after a few days of thinking about it I decided to visit so I asked him why.. why the beatings why didn’t he love me.. his reply was I don’t no what you’re on about .. I got up and left never to go bk … 13 years later it’s still hurts because he was my dad wether he loved me or not I loved him I never did drugs or alcohol never brought any trouble to the house I just can’t understand why
@@John-q2y9kYou were loveable but some people just can't show love even to a child. I think you did the right thing and even gave the opportunity for an explanation. Well done for that. Just because you didn't get one it doesn't mean an explanation didn't exist. But it wouldn't have changed the wrong. Sometimes we just have to decide to forgive in our hearts and move away from the harmful people in our lives. Forgiveness doesn't mean excusing wrong... it just means learning from it, making appropriate decisions to get away from whoever is injuring you, one moving on with your life, leaving them to their own outcomes.
You did that. 💪🏼🙂
Thank you for sharing. Less than 2 weeks ago I surpassed my father's age in passing. I appreciate how this video and how your comment made it to me. Peace
I lost my Dad in March, and it’s fair to say your comment made me cry. It didn’t help that this was one of his favourite songs. Blessings, my friend. ❤
Paul Carrack is one of the best vocalists, criminally underrated
❤
My absolute favourite singer of all time x.
Here, Here.......
@@noelroberts8199 Where?
In what possible universe is Paul Carrack underrated?
" i wasn't there that morning when my father passed away" hits me hard every time
😞😢
I was there and to be honest sometimes I wish I wasn't. Having to watch them turn the machine off and see him take is last breath never leaves my head
Me too. I’m 56 and I dad’s been gone since ‘09. Remember it like yesterday.
i wasnt there, I was 300kms away trying the bets i could to get there in time.... I didnt make it
Neither was I when my dad passed away.
My father was 94, he died peacefully, and I was holding his hand. I spent the last years of his life listening to his stories, laughing about growing up, sharing our memories, told him every day I loved him. I hear this song and think of all that wasn't said............there is never enough time.
There never is
Thank you for sharing. All the best to you and yours, from New Zealand.
I think about my dad every time I hear this song. He's been gone nearly 20 years and I still miss him.
😢
Me too I wish my dad was here to see my grandkids
The void is never filled.
!8 years for me, and like you, I still miss him.
We will always miss them...
They are carried always in our hearts.....❤miss u dad..❤
My wife died in 2020 - not even at 40 - my mum in 2021 and my father in 2022.
I hardly can bear listening to this song - being one of my childhood favorites though - i still sing along with tears in my eyes, only now i really understand.
And that's what they tried to tell me all those years.
Life is wonderful - nobody said it's easy.
❤
My father passed away a few months ago. Two days later I’m at a Publix buying groceries for a meal I was making for my family. I’m picking up baguette bread for the spaghetti I was making and this song came on over the PA system. Needless to say, I broke down in the aisle hugging a baguette and people were looking at me like “damn he must really love bread” I did tell my dad to give me a sign if he’s around. He didn’t disappoint
He sure gave you a sign, shame it was in a public place like that, but I’m glad you got to know he was there 🫶🏻 very sorry for your loss
Beautiful song rings true for lots of people 😢
My father has been gone almost 25 years and I still regularly have moments where I think “ my dad would have loved this”.
That's what I'm afraid of. About to turn 18 and my fathers getting old. He can't care for me anymore and the real world is starting to dawn on me now. A bit scary
This song creeps up on you and then slaps you in the face with a rude awakening.
Well put
No, it doesn't. I change the station when it comes on. It's too much for me.
@@wannamontana4130 yes and it does not have to be your father , you can relate this to anyone close to you .
This 💔
The older I get, the harder these songs hit.
Your not kidding
True. Completely ignored the story of this song when I heard it as a teen but still old enough to know. Then my father died of a stroke when I was 26 and the next time I heard this it completely tore me apart. Then felt like an idiot. Still do!
Agree
Yep.
so true!
I'm 67 and this song always touches my heart and brings me to tears! To me it is the most beautiful song! It's all about the words!
Top five songs in my life,this is number 1
And Paul Carrack's delivery
Mike Rutherford who formed this band, was also a member of Genesis with Phil Collins.
Yep. These two Americans don't even know Mike of 'Mike and the Mechanics' was in Genesis with Phil Collins. These two American youtubers don't know much. Disappointing.
Paul Carrack's lead vocals are just wonderful, and I love that they used a middle aged and older choir, to represent and emphasise the age group of the people the song was written about. 🙋♂
Paul is a very unrecognised song writer. How Long for Ace. I can’t tell you why, and others, for the Eagles. Hits for the band Squeeze etc
I’m a boomer and proud.this was made in 1989.
You are too young to be a "Baby Boomer", the defination of a Baby Boomer is someone who was born shortly after World War II to re-populate the Western World countries. I was born in 1956, eleven years after WW2, so I am a Baby Boomer.
@@davidmacgregor5193 -- How do you know when she was born and that she isn't a Boomer? She merely said that she is proud to be a BB and that the song was made in 1989. How do you get from that statement that she isn't a BB??
@@davidmacgregor5193 Most definitions have 1964 as the last year of baby boomers. That said you have no idea when she was born.
same here .. the best art the best books the best movies the best songs .. nothing now
@davidmacgregor5193 yes the definition is the 20 booming years following the returning GIs
I wasn't there that morning,when my father passed away,I didn't get to tell him,all the things I had to say....I think I caught his spirit, later that same year,I'm sure I heard his echo,in my baby's newborn tears,I just wish I could have told him,IN THE LIVING YEARS!😭
😭😭
I told both my parents what I thought of them ‘ in the living years. I remember walking into the kitchen in the 1970s and said to both of them, .”If I had a choice of a thousand parents, I’d pick both of you.”. They looked at me rather surprised. I said, I mean it. The smiled. I don’t remember what happened next. But I honestly meant it. Dad passed in his sleep in his own bed aged 89. Mum passed aged 95 only one hour in hospital. Yup I cried through that as I still
miss them. There’s good, wonderful parents and not so good parents and children in every single generation before us and generations to come.
@@bernadettelanders7306 They sound wonderful,and so do you! What a blessing to hear those words from your child!
Aww, Mary gets a thumbs up just because she can retype the lyrics with absolutely no commentary? Sheesh. People, Look up Chris Korda. Please do not increase the surplus population.
So funny hearing 1988 called "that far back." Damn, I'm old.
Hearing you. Makes me feel ancient wham they’ve never heard of so many great bands of the 80s
Another scary fact. If you ever saw the film Back to the Future you'd know that Marty goes back to the year 1955. In present day, that would be the same as us going back to 1994
What’s weird is these guys don’t look young to me. Perhaps they’re older millennials or younger gen x? Not boomers, or they wouldn’t have mentioned boomers when blaming the generation before.
@@jellyrollnorton I'd be surprised if they were Gen X. I'd guess mid-to-older Millenial.
Don't worry, you're not alone.
If you don't tear up for this song you have no soul
Guess I have no soul lol I never found this to be a tearjerker, and I'm usually overly sensitive lol
@@samjohnson7869it's one that gets you if you've been in a similar situation.
Depends on the relationship with your parents. It doesn’t make me sad as my parents aren’t in my life and haven’t been my whole adulthood. If it’s a small quarrel it’s much easier to solve or think you could have done something or said something. My mother passed in 2022 and I felt nothing. No regrets, no sorrow. I was more upset when my cat died because of the relationship we had
@bringmechoc S/he must have been a very special cat. What was its name?
@@tenderpawsm473Lily 🐱
Don’t pick it apart. It’s one of those songs that has a message. Either you’ve lost someone important or not, and if you’re like most people on earth you will have regrets. If you listen to the message of this song, you won’t. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make amends, because you will regret it for the rest of your life.
A song written for that time still applays so strongly even in 2024 shows how great this song is
You’re absolutely right!
When songs actually told a story
My 2 evil stepbrothers kept me from visiting my stepfather when he was dying. When the younger brother divorced his wife she called me on the phone. She said she always wanted to tell me something important but couldn't whilst still married into the family. She said that while he was dying and very weak my stepfather often asked for me. He couldn't understand why I hadn't come to see him. He died thinking I simply hadn't cared when in fact his 2 sons played every card to keep me away, in case he decided to split the inheritance 3 ways.
This song brings it all up. My stepfather looked after me along with his 2 sons after my mother abandoned me. I've never met my biological father so my stepdad was very important to me.
I cry every time I hear this beautiful song
Your stepfather may have not known then, but he knows exactly why you weren't there now. He is not puzzled now, he's fne and wants you to be too. Just enjoy the beauty of the song as you think of him.
A good friend of mine was adopted as a baby and with his adopted parents blessing found his natural father who was please to meet him. However his step brothers threatened him if he ever visited again saying he was only after a share of the inheritance (a fish and chip shop). He was already successful and that success grew (he now lives in Thailand and is very wealthy) and told them he wasn't interested in the money but they repeated their threat. He was later contacted by them after his natural fathers death when they discovered his wealth wanting to patch things up. He told them it was his father he wanted to get to know and not them and for them to never contact him again, they were very angry at his rejection.
he knows the truth. he will guide you and bless you now with your share of abundance. It will come in another way or form. Just open up to this and one day your will see it. He loved you - most important.
A brilliant, emotional song. Superbly well sung by Paul Carrack. Wonderful.
This song inspired me to say “I love you” to my dad before he passed!
Thank you, Mike and mechanics
they didnt have "fake " music as is today
Okay, boomer.
@tenderpawsm473 wise up , if u understood what music is u wud know it's a true comment
Oh please. Just because you can't relate, doesn't mean music today isn't any better or worse than what you grew up on.
Every generation has their own.
I remember this song as a teen in the 80s. My father passed away in 2017. It was and will never be forgotten as the worst day of my life. I too “wasn’t there that morning when my father passed away.” But I told him the night before that he was my only hero and I loved him. I am a priest and I was offering Mass for him when he passed away. That was my only consolation. I had the greatest dad.
Oh gosh, that’s heartbreaking. I’m glad you were both able to have that peace with one another before his passing. So sorry for your loss.
Hi from London England. This was my Dads favourite song, he loved it. It was played at his funeral last year, it was tough. It breaks my heart now listening to this beautiful song but I can't resist it because it brings my Dad back to me. I wasn't with my Dad when he passed either, I was out of town.
"hold fast" (1Thess.5 :21)!
The Mike in Mike and the Mechanics is Michael Rutherford from Genesis. This was his side project band when he didn't record with Genesis. It's an underrated band.
God guy is legend then
The 80's was probably the most diverse period of music that I've ever heard. In the UK we had new bands like OMD, Duran Duran, The Human league, Soft Cell, New Order, Bronski beat, The Christians, Madness, The Specials, The Cure, layered on top of that we had the older bands still releasing stuff Like David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Genesis, Pink Floyd/Roger Waters, Queen, ELO. There were litterally 100's of bands releasing stuff from multiple genre's it was a special period in the UK. Yes some of it was heavily produced using drum machines etc but so much of it was Brilliant!
Okay to be fair, you named a lot of the best artists from that time lol. We definitely appreciate the music, and even really like some of it. Just not our typical daily listeners.
@@Killermcknight Reconsider your daily. You won't miss what you don't know.
You didn't mention The Smiths, Talk Talk and The Jesus and Mary Chain. How very dare you!
Depeche Mode? Talk Talk?
How one could forget Queen🤪
My dad passed away 21 years ago next month, he was a top top bloke, miss the big guy everyday.
The last 8 years of my sisters life i stopped talking to her because she was doing reaally bad on drugs and not doing right by her children and she would just tell me lies and i was fed up with her. She was killed in a car accident 3 years ago. Hearing this song that ive heard since it came out makes me just feel so guilty now about her. I should have kept trying to help her no matter what. I was on drugs before and without my family i would still be there. This aong just hit me hard. Sorry for venting. Good reaction. I thought you had changed the name of your channel so i was surprised to see this notification!
It's not your fault! It's not your fault!😇😇
Wow,so sad! It's so hard to know what to do in the case of addiction...You admitted to the same struggles,so you know....I know your sister passed,but I believe she can still hear you.Tell her everything you feel and how much you love her,and then give it to God! LOVE NEVER DIES❣
I feel your pain ...I went through similar with my eldest daughter and my son....
So you f'd up. Your family was there for you, but you weren't there for your sister. I do not feel sorry for you.I do not pity you, I Think you are looking for sympathy.You're not getting it from me
@@robertlongwill8856 who hasn't made mistakes in their life ...that sometimes they've later regreted...
This is the exact story of me and my dad. It makes me cry every time I hear it. He passed in 2019 after I hadn't seen him in a few years. We always had a difficult relationship, despite loving each other. I wish I could take it all back.
Those BOOMERS made some great music!!
That would be xers
We got to enjoy some o the best talent and incredible music ever. There will never be another decade for music like the 80's.
@@susancerchiori2715??? Those guys are definitely boomers. Check their DOB.
@susancerchiori2715 most were born before 65. So both.
Boomers made great songs for gen X and beyond.
This song started a conversation with my father that carried on until he died. We shared much in common, but had many differences, and found a way to talk through those differences. Sometimes he moved his opinions my direction. I am forever grateful to Mike and the Mechanics. Pops asked that it be played at his memorial, with me explaining why the song came to mean so much. So I ended my eulogy with this song. I’ll be making a trip to the grave today. This song always makes me make that trip. God I miss that man. He will always be my hero
This song was played at Dad’s graveside as my younger brother insisted. The lyrics explain the kind of relationship he and Dad had. I have four siblings but was really close to my father and was the only one with him when he passed away in hospital. Dad’s 20th anniversary will be on 24 May. This is the first time I have listened to this song all the way through since the funeral. Thank you for sharing your reaction 😢💔🙏🕊️.
My god. The music wasn’t up to standards??? No auto tune back then. This was raw pure talent. “New” music is so over produced no one needs any real talent. Back in the ‘80’s people like Steve Perry, Freddy Mercury,Jeff Lynn, Paul Carrack all sounded as good, if not better live. Try that today.
@@LicensedBajaRealtor This is a fact. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Real talent vs synthesized talent.
My father passed away when this became popular,oh dear it as a massive eye opener.
Oh goodness, I couldn’t even imagine the pain. So sorry for your loss
I'm a boomer. I was 25 when my father died one morning. We were just starting to get along. My little almost 5 year olddaughter was his pride and joy. She has his red hair. This is one of the most serious songs of the 80's. You have to watch days music. If you take away auto tune and synthesizers, their voices aren't worth a damn.
This song gets me every time. The video is beautiful, but this song is about the problems men have with expressing their feelings and giving affection, even though they love their children. My dad never hugged me and I found out as an adult that he wasn't my natural father and that my biological father died when I was two, so this song is multi layered with regret for me.
Mike Rutherford was with the genius Phil Collins in Genises, seen them live at Wembley Arena. Lucky me. I'm so old, I've seen them all. Love from London. Jan 😊
And people forget its where Peter Gabriel. Started off.
One thing I love is that the choir gets older as the song goes on
Lead singer here is the brilliant Paul Carrack known in the industry as “the voice”
No, that was Phil Collins singing
@MoMoMyPup10 it's definitely Paul Carrack!
@@MoMoMyPup10 no it most definitely is not Phil Collins
Did you guys even watch the video???
@@MoMoMyPup10 😂 yes and you think that’s Phil Collins? 🤣🤣
So glad I saw this reaction. Haven't heard this song in FOREVER!!! This song came out not long before my father died. My Dad was my rock. And when he died, I wasn't there. I was only a few miles away with my brother. We were told it would be weeks. He died while I was at my brother's house. After that, every time I heard this song it broke me. Even now.....35 years later.....hearing this song.... I'm in tears because I didn't get to say good bye.
This is about his Father, they never spoke for years, he died without being able to say goodbye 🇬🇧
Yes Mike's father. Not Paul's, the singer
@@davidhuggan6315Not just Mike, but also the father of the song's co-writer, B.A. Robertson. And both he and Mike are godfathers to each other's sons.
This song touched a lot of people's emotions, from Chris de Burgh (who upon hearing it for the first time while he was driving had to pull over) and Anthony Phillips (Mike's former Genesis bandmate).
Even Paul Carrack had a deep connection to it.
And I bet Phil Collins did, too, since his own father passed away on Christmas Day 1972.
It’s actually 1988. It’s one of the greatest songs ever.
This song was everywhere when my dad died, hearing it again now has me in tears all over again. Still miss him
I can’t imagine hearing this song any time close to losing someone 😭 So sorry for your loss
I would change the radio station. If that's what it takes to keep your composure, do it! It's okay to cry, but songs like these have a way of COMPOUNDING people's grief.
Another great 1 from them that never got the full recognition that it deserved is “All I Need Is A Miracle”.
When I was a surly, sullen teen, my father and I got into a bad fight. Things were said, doors slammed and music turned up so I couldn't hear him anymore. Living Years came on within one or two songs, and it hit me like a truck; I bawled a while, went and apologized. Mike, of the ,,,,and the Mechanics, is Mike Rutherford, formerly of Genesis with Phil Collins.
I would have changed the station and turned up the radio louder. I absolutely can be sullen if others don't treat me right or if they're not agreeable. I won't back down when I believe I'm in the right. Still, this was a bizarre coincidence.
What did your dad do to tick you off that night?
This is a song I wrapped myself in during very dark times. …hauntingly beautiful, heartbreakingly sad and poignant. 🫶🏻🤍🏴 love from Scotland ❤️🩹
I loved this when I was 14. I'll be 50 later this year, and that last verse still gets me. Thanks for sharing.
Mike and the mechanics, English group formed about 1985. This record was released in 88/89.
Actually what is classed a SuperGroup like the Traveling Wilburys.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergroup_(music)
@@humeyboytechnically speaking, they were mostly just the remnants of Genesis when the band "broke up." The Traveling Wilburys was a collection of superstar musicians/artists who came together mostly by accident to form a supergroup. Cream was the very first Supergroup to be formed. At the time, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were the very best of the best with their respective instruments and were major stars in their own right.
I loved my Dad he was my friend as well. When he passed and i listened to this song, it brought it all back
I wasn’t there when MY father passed away…. He had leukemia and was in Oklahoma City, I lived in Corpus Christi, Tx. in 1974. My parents were divorced two years, I was 9, my dad was 34. This song hits me EVERY SINGLE TIME. My brother just passed in February from leukemia, he lived in Hawaii and I’m in Houston, Texas. If you still have your parents and siblings, tell them you love them every chance you get. You just never know when the last time you speak to them if it truly is the last time.
That’s horrible. I’m so sorry you lost your dad at such a young age, and your brother recently. We definitely try to always let our loved ones know how much we care about them.
One of my favorite all time songs. Message is timeless…
I am 62 and blame the generations after not the generation before.
Of course but I want you to watch the TV and tell me what generation is it do you see reporting on the news or in political positions? I see boomers and gen x... we needed an adult in the room to not even entertain the woke but they fueled it. Now you can't say gay, 8 year olds in school are learning about the 32 different genders they can pick from and basic homes are now 400k minimum to buy.
@Killermcknight Boomers had no more control over the system than you do.
The system comprised of what?
You do now. When you were in your 20’s you only had the generation before. That’s the point
I thlnk our own age determines whether we see the blame lying at the door of the generation(s) before or the generation(s) after. Even then, it's unfair to lay the blame for ALL the problems at the door of one particular generation. As a man now in his mid-sixties, the current RULING generation is mostly people of my age, so if I'm honest, I think I need to blame many of the ills of the world on my own generation. The degeneration of society on the other hand is down to the later generations, since they're the ones who seem to be making the social rules these days, for better or for worse. I can't really bring myself to blame 'the generations before' because whatever problems they brought down upon us, we've had plenty of time to put those right, rather than just blaming it on our predecessors.
My Father was a WWII vet! Truck driver ex-boxer in the Army TOUGH AS NAILS!! And I worshiped the ground he walked on!! And so did everyone in or family....
I love my dad with all my heart he will be 90 this September but was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February then suddenly my lovely mum passed away two weeks ago ago from pneumonia.We have her funeral this Friday.I wish they could be here forever,I’ve spent so much time with them but it’s gone too quickly.
This song has done me in since it first came out, 35 years ago, my dad worked abroad from when i was 10 until i was 27. I only saw him a few weeks a year. I still cant listen to this without welling up and feeling the loss really bad.
My wife cant believe how it hits me if it comes on because my dad is still alive today!!
That’s true power of a song and emotions!
Old man took heart attack aged 65. Drove by his house 2 days later. This song came on radio, I cried like a baby so hard I had to pull in.
I'm an 80s kid and must have heard this song hundreds of times on the radio back then. Now, however, I'm a few short months away from losing my dad to cancer. I definitely don't have any animosity toward my dad, but we don't have a lot in common. I'm not in the habit of talking to him about important stuff. I have no idea how to start, even knowing the end is coming soon. This song kept popping up in my TH-cam feed. I'm listening and getting up the courage to listen and talk to him more.
I hope that you will find something meaningful to talk with him about. Sometimes you don't really need to say a lot. I'm sure he will appreciate you being there.❤️❤️❤️
"I think I caught his spirit later that same year, I'm sure I heard his echo in my baby's newborn tears"
Best lyric ever
THAT LINE 😭😭😭
THAT LINE 😭😭😭
THAT LINE 😭😭😭
Of course he had to go and reproduce and potentially become like his father.
That 3rd verse comes in and slaps you so hard. It don’t matter how many times I listen to it it gets me every dam time
When my dad passed, we weren’t allowed to see him in the hospital….this was during cvd….I would talk to him on the phone….and the nurses would put the phone next to his ear….and all i heard was the breathing machine…I would read to him, and talk to him about everyone, that he was in their thoughts and prayers….I wasn’t doing well physically and mentally, I was taking care of everything, talking to the doctors, talking to his friends and relatives…talking with my mom and try to keep her hopes up……as i was talking to him, the dr picked up the phone, and said he was sleeping, and had to rest, but there was still so much to say…he passed away the next morning…i never finished telling him what I wanted to….I never got to say goodbye…and that I loved him….
He knew. He knew. ❤
You could have a lifetime and still not say everything you had to say then. With every passing year that message will grow in your mind. You did what you could in the time allowed, that is all any of us can do. Make peace with that my friend, we all fall short of perfection.
I'm 70 and it still makes me cry because it's so true, my father died last yr age 90 got to know him more in the last two yrs of his life than for all the rest.
So sorry for your loss. It somehow seems more painful when you didn’t have a relationship with them and just started to prior to their passing. I am glad to hear he made it to such an age 🫶🏻
I was with my dad on the morning he passed away. He was well loved. I hope he knew that as he left me. I miss him so much
"I wasn't there that morning, when my father passed away, I didn't get to tell him all I wanted to say"..... that line get me every time.
I got off at three AM and stopped by the hospice where my seventy-seven-year-old father lay. He was dying of COPD. He wasn't able to know that I was there. When I left in my truck this song played. It was just too ironic and yes I relive that time every time I hear this song.
There will never be something as beautiful as the 80s. However, we are back in the twenties now.
Uhh. Those were the RayGun years.
How can you say that this has a similarity to 'In the Air Tonight'? Music from the '60s, '70s and '80s is probably the best ever made. It's certainly, with some exceptions from either perspective, way better than anything we've heard since 2010!
Mike Rutherford was the guitarist from Genesis, and the song dates from the mid 70's to early 80's. And it made me realize I needed to go and speak to my own father before it was too late, and thank him for all he did for us in bringing up me and my sister. And just talk to him as a grown man and not as his son. I still remember hugging him at Heathrow Airport and realizing it was probably the first time I'd ever given my father a real hug. I still feel it was one of the most meaningful things I ever did with my father. He died a few years later. Listen to the songs words and talk to your parents they to have their story.
I think each generation will enjoy the music of their time, for ever and ever. I'm a 70s guy and I love rock!!
Absolutely agree. I grew up on 90s and early 2000s and prefer that over today’s music by far!
Glasgow... My family is Scottish too. Thank you for your story. My father died at 67 after a life of drinking. I'm 66... My parents came by the house to see me and my boys one Saturday. When I said goodbye he gave me a big hug and a kiss and said he loved me. That was unusual. I was going to go visit them the next Saturday but something "important" came up (I can't even remember what it was) so I called to say I'd see him the following weekend. Well, he died that Monday and I got the call from my secretary on the way to work. I had to pull over too, I was crying so much. I drove to see my mother and on the way I stopped at the hospital to see him. I managed to make my way into the morgue. I turned right around and thought I want my final image of him to be that hug and kiss. Thank you again for your story.
Beautiful song but that line crushes my heart every time I hear it! Thank you two.
I am glad that I was able to tell important people in my life that I love them before they died, or as they get older before something happens.
🫶🏻🫶🏻 I try to live life always doing so
Well you saying Phil Collins, well there is a connection with this band. The guy with the beard with his young son was in the band Genesis with Phil Collins that’s why the song sounded like his songs.
Great to know this, tks much for the info 👍
Great to know this 👍 tks for the info
"mike" was the lead singer of genesis. he left the band to form mike + mechanics...that's when phil took over lead vocals.
@@davidgreer4615 Well Phil was the drummer in Genesis when Mike was still in the band, Phil did backing vocals whilst drumming, Peter Gabriel was the lead singer, when Peter left that’s when Phil became the lead singer not Mike. Mike was still in the band as the guitarist. so he had input too in the sound of the songs, Phil’s solo stuff also sounded like Genesis and this song.
@@davidgreer4615 actually Mike Rutherford started the band when Genesis was taking a break. I was at their last concert before that break. Mike, Tony, and Phil went on to do more solo stuff, then got back together briefly but then Phil left for a solo career.
Thank you for bringing this beautiful song. One of my favorite over the years.
♥️♥️
Mike (in the video with young boy and playing guitar in white jacket) was in Genesis (with Phil Collins)
This was real - a genuine heartfelt review. I could see you were both impacted by this absolutely fabulous song.
We definitely were! If there’s one thing we ever try to always be, it’s genuine 🫶🏻
Absolute classic. With words that mean something. Brilliant.
My dad used to play this all the time when we were kids. When you're a kid, it's fun just to sing along... Wasn't until I was in middle school that it hit me like a ton of bricks. I really was getting into song writing and poetry. Really started to understand the true meaning behind the song. It's probably one of the most underrated ballads of its time.
Paul Carrack..one if the best voices of all time
Well done! It is a message to us to say i love you to our parents and to say thank you for giving all they did to raise us
Absolutely!
Mike Rutherford, the guitarist and father in the vid, is a founding member of Genesis, with Phil Collins.
Played this song at my father's funeral, it breaks me every time because when he died of cancer I didn't get to tell him how I felt and this song tells my story perfectly
“Heard an echo in my baby’s newborn tears “ now that’s a lyric ❤❤❤.
The lyric that got me 😭
Written by Mike Rutherford (and that's his little boy with him in the video) and BA Robertson, this is their take---"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."
I don't blame previous generations, I blame myself.
Sir, you have ARRIVED.
Oh, but I do. Previous generations sucked to put it bluntly. I was born at the tail end of Generation X and folks from the Boomer/ Silent/ (Not So) Greatest generations are just mean. I have more hope for the later generations. I don't mean to sound rude, but people have been insensitive to me for my entire life.
This song came out a month after my own dad passed, I was 38, and we never got on, he suffered from depression after ww11, made our lives hell, but over time I forgave him, it invokes many feelings in many people in different ways. So my message is this, whatever problems a family or couple face, heal the rift, for as the song says, it’s too late when we die, those left are the ones hurting. Great site guys, glad you liked the song ,and the message it sends
I’m glad you were able to make amends. It’s hard having relationships like that. That’s how I try to live my life… basically a “if they died tomorrow, would I regret not having them in my life?” type of thing.
Sorry for your loss 🙏🏻
My dad died when I was 15, never had the chance to really have a proper conversation with him. I miss that to this day. I'm 76!
So sorry to hear that. That feeling never goes away, just gets easier with time 🙏🏻♥️
irishman here i had a bad relationship with my dad didnt see or speak to his for 15 years then rushed home when he was dying of cancer he held on till i arrived and died 30 minutes later 5 years after i went to a van morrison concert in chester england , mike and the mechanics were the warm up band they played this song and i could handle it and walked out for a wee cry on my own, never even saw van morrison
The power of music...
The Wikipedia entry states that Mike Rutherford was in the video with his the. 8 year old son, Tom, and Mike Rutherford’s entry states that Tom was born in 1980 so this was definitely filmed in late 1988, I remember in early 1989, a company showed up at my school, called aTriMax or something where they showed us a movie with 3 projectors and it was set to this song until the 1992-93 school year when they changed it to Van Halen’s right now song.
I am getting older, (in my 50s), but I try to keep everything in perspective. There is a very old quote (over 2000 years ago) attributed to either Socrates or Plato. It is: "Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.” It has ALWAYS been that the older generations think the younger generations are worse. They're not, they are just different, and as we get older, we get more set in our ways. Great song for all generations to hear. Thanks for sharing!
No problem it was regardless of personal preference an enjoyable experience. If it wasn't for this channel and of the recommendations of others I probably wouldn't venture out on my own to even try to listen to new things. We created this channel to discover and explore because it is fun. I was the type of person that listened to the same 3 or 4 favorite albums for years and rejected anything new. I'm a metal head that played drums in a Metalcore band so I used to not even entertain the possibilities of other music outside that genre. Thanks for the Socrates or Plato quote it was very enlightening
Ahh, metal head…explains a lot. I was wondering what the hell this guy was on.mighty big rock he’d been living under.
I was in my late twenties when this came out, 30 odd years later and it still brings a lump to my throat. thanks for listening to all our old songs
Seen Mike & The Mechanics 5 times in consert, still as good today as they when they first performed. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
This song hits home with me big time. My wife was pregnant with our 1st son. My father did pass away 5 months before his 1st grandson was born. I was on a training mission in California the day he passed. There was I wanted to talk to him about and didn't get the chance. ❤
Very moving message - People say it Now - Don't Wait ☘️
Absolutely 🙌🏻
My father passed away 3 years ago. I only heard about his death 2 years after he died... I wasnt there that morning when my father passed away. I didnt get to tell him all the things I had to say.... Love you Dad.
I'm a GenX & let me tell ya, we had the best music than any other generation especially this one.😊
I wasn't there that morning,when my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him ,all the things I had to say
I think I caught his spirit later that same year,
I'm sure I heard his echo in my baby's new born tears,
I just wish I could've told him,in the living years.......
Those lines always gets me.
Damn.....
Sooo hard, that part
Mike and the Machine bring lots of bad memories when I first came to the United States from the civil unrest in Liberia and this song was on the radio. When I heard the tears ran down my face because this song is everything I should have said to my parents in the living years .
Paul Carrack - the musician's musician. RIP Paul Young, gone too soon.
The song is beautiful. It's a lesson in life, that's unfortunately too often ignored. Carrick's voice is superb.