Mike + The Mechanics -The Living Years

Mike + The Mechanics' album Living Years was released on October 28, 1988, and reached number 13 on the US Billboard 200 and number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.
The album was recorded between April 18 and August 18, 1988, and features the hit single "The Living Years," which was released in December 1988 as the second single from the album.
The song, written by Mike Rutherford and BA Robertson, became a worldwide chart success, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 on March 25, 1989, and reaching number one in Australia, Canada, and Ireland, while peaking at number two in the UK.
It also spent four weeks at number one on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The Living Years addresses a son's regret over unresolved conflict with his now-deceased father, inspired by the shared experience of Rutherford and Robertson, both of whom had lost their fathers around the same time.
The song won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically in 1989 and was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1990, including Record and Song of the Year.
Paul Carrack provided the lead vocals on the track, a performance that remains a staple of his live shows due to the personal significance of the lyrics, as his father had died in an industrial accident when he was eleven.

Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
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 have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

[Chorus]
Say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (It's too late)
When we die (oh, when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

[Verse 2]
So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be okay

[Chorus]
Say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (It's too late)
When we die (oh, when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

[Verse 3]
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 have told him
In the living years

[Chorus]
Say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (It's too late)
When we die (oh, when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye