In 2024, lyricist Joell Ortiz and production team The Heatmakerz released the album W.A.R. (With All Respect). The anthology featured a track entitled “All the Years” which contained a sample of vocals from Mick Hucknall on Simply Red’s song “Holding Back the Years.”
Out of order from the original sample, The Heatmakerz remixed Hucknall’s vocals with Ortiz’s minimal encouragers thusly:
Holding back the years (Uh)
Thinking of the fear I’ve had so long (Wow)
I’ve wasted all my tears (Mm)
Wasted all those years
Given my existentialist approach to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I appreciate the focus of the track taking a reflective outlook on the past. Equally, the inference by stating “wasted all those years” places into perspective a view toward the future.
When “thinking of the fear” one has had for “so long,” I contemplate the helpful practice of unconditional life acceptance. This REBT technique acknowledges the impermanent and uncertain experience of life, along with human fallibility, when addressing unpleasant emotions.
It’s worth noting that there are healthy and unhealthy negative emotions. Personally believed, there’s no need to pathologize an emotional experience related to fear. Still, there’s a difference between a typical fearful moment and prolonged terror or virtually unrelenting fright.
For instance, one may be afraid to perform cartwheels on the edge of a roof at the tallest skyscraper in a city. Arguably, imagining that scary experience and using the healthy negative emotion of fear invoked by one’s beliefs about the event could serve a lifesaving function.
Alternatively, prolonged fear described by Hucknall – presumably regarding the past, future, or both – may serve an unhealthy negative emotion that functions as a limit to one’s ability to achieve success with personal interests and goals. Thus, assessing the healthiness or unhealthiness of emotions is a worthwhile endeavor.
Aside from the chorus of “All the Years,” I like how Ortiz utilizes his words on the track for nostalgic purposes. He describes various moments of joy and pleasure regarding experiences from childhood, though only after first opening up the song by declaring:
I could’ve talked about not havin’ hot water (Water)
Or how growin’ up, most of us ain’t got fathers (Fathers)
How we survived in cold streets and them hot corners
And all the rest of that negative stuff the block taught us (Mm)
But nah, today’s a lil’ different (Word)
I’m on a different mission today
It’s as though the lyricist understands an invaluable psychoeducational lesson on tolerance and acceptance, as advocated by my approach of REBT. I, too, had a troubled upbringing. However, one’s past doesn’t necessarily determine one’s future. Ortiz appears to understand this message.
Similarly, the lyricist ends the track by expressing how appreciative he is to have made it through difficult times. As an example, Ortiz ends his last verse – after reminiscently evoking the Konami code – by stating:
Close my eyes and see it vivid
Smiles on some faces that are no longer livin’
A much humbler time, but still a time I be missin’
But don’t mind me, I’m just reminiscin’ (Reminiscin’)
Rather than fear expressed by the beautifully haunting lyrics of Hucknall, Ortiz appears to value the positive, neutral, and negative experiences which led him from the past to the present while preparing him for an uncertain future. This is a matter of true acceptance.
As a personal bonus, the album cover of W.A.R. (With All Respect) features an illustration of a plague doctor mask, reportedly used during the bubonic plague in Europe and which has come to symbolize death. Once again, existentialism comes to mind.
The illustration of the masked figure is adorned with an assortment of flowers, juxtaposing life with death. Personally, this is a poignant reminder of one’s inevitable death and to discover the beauty in life – if or when such beautiful moments present themselves – before all the years pass.
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
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At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
Apple Music. (n.d.). W.A.R. (With All Respect). Apple, Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/album/w-a-r-with-all-respect/1766387824
Genius. (n.d.). All the years [Image]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Joell-ortiz-and-the-heatmakerz-all-the-years-lyrics
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Simply Red. (2009, April 26). Simply Red - Holding Back the Years (Official 4K remaster) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yG07WSu7Q9w?si=tTiyVyjg_3ATiM8o
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