The Best Years of Our Lives (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel song)

Following the split of the original Cockney Rebel line-up in July 1974, Harley assembled a new line-up later in the year and renamed the band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. In November-December 1974, the new band recorded The Best Years of Our Lives album at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios in London. In 2014, Harley recalled of the song's recording: "We played it live in the studio, all sat round together. There were no overdubs, and we all wanted to get the feel of the song on record."[2] When the band performed the song live at the Hammersmith Odeon on 14 April 1975, Harley announced the track as "the most serious song I've ever wrote in my life".[3] Since then, the song has consistently been a popular inclusion at Harley and the band's concerts.

In 2014, EMI released a definitive edition of the album as a four CD + DVD box-set. On disc one, a previously unreleased acoustic demo of "The Best Years of Our Lives" was included.[4] In an online diary entry, Harley said of the demo:

""The Best Years Of Our Years" acoustic demo (why do I allow this to reach your ears? WHY?) is proof if needed that all songs start and finish as just that, as a song – not productions, not records. The song comes first. On this original, I attempted to invert the "tragic" and "magic" or was I just tired? That demo was played just to Alan and our tape operator in the early hours when the long day and night had been wrapped. I just told Alan I had something new for tomorrow but didn't fancy going home yet (I would have been alone at Landward Court, Marble Arch, and was slightly Martini-ed up)."[5]

Upon release, Record & Popswap Mirror reviewed The Best Years of Our Lives and said: "Each song has a distinct character, culminating in the personal message - the title track."[6] In the liner notes of the 2014 definitive edition, Geoff Barton wrote how the song saw Harley "reprising the hard-bitten troubadour persona he adopted on Cockney Rebel's first two albums", adding that it "somehow manages to be both triumphant and mournful at the same time".[2]

Donald A. Guarisco of AllMusic retrospectively highlighted the song as one of the album's "standouts". He described it as "a touching acoustic ballad that highlights some of Harley's most direct and emotional lyrics". Guarisco also selected the song as an AMG pick track.[7]

Cockney Rebel

• Steve Harley - vocals, producer
• Jim Cregan - acoustic guitar
• George Ford - bass guitar
• Duncan Mackay - keyboards
• Stuart Elliott - drums

Additional personnel

• Alan Parsons – producer, engineer, mixing
• Gary Edwards – tape operator
• Peter James – tape operator
• Chris Blair – mastering

Following the release of the band's fifth studio album Love's a Prima Donna in October 1976, the band embarked on an eight-date UK tour in December to promote it. A number of concerts were recorded on the tour, along with the band's one-off charity concert at London Rainbow in February 1977. Harley then selected the best tracks for release on a double live album. A day before its release, the band's split was announced. Face to Face: A Live Recording was released in July 1977[8] and reached at No. 40 in the UK.[9] To promote the album, a live single was released in August, with "The Best Years of Our Lives" chosen as the A-side, and "Tumbling Down" as the B-side.[10] The single did not enter the UK Top 50.

The single was released by EMI Records on 7" and 12" vinyl in the UK only.[8][11] It was the band's first single to be released on the 12" vinyl format, which itself was labelled as being limited edition.[12] The single was also the band's first to be released in the UK with a picture sleeve. It featured the same photograph of Harley on stage on both sides of the sleeve.[10]

7" Single

1. "The Best Years of Our Lives" - 5:00
2. "Tumbling Down" - 6:34

12" Single

1. "The Best Years of Our Lives" - 5:00
2. "Tumbling Down" - 6:34

On its release, Sheila Prophet of Record Mirror said: "This one is live and it's a cracker. Just listen to the way he controls the audience - amazing. It's easily the best track on Face to Face and though I don't know how valid it is as a single, it's a worthwhile buy for any hard-up fans who can't afford the fancy double album package."[13] In a review of the live album, Geoff Barton of Sounds stated: "...by contrast, side three and four are magnificent, compulsive. Three opens with "Best Years of Our Lives", always an emotional highspot."[14]