The Boys of Summer (song)

"The Boys of Summer"
Single by Don Henley
from the album Building the Perfect Beast
B-side	"A Month of Sundays"
Released	October 29, 1984 (1984-10-29)
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	1984
Genre	Rock
Length	4:47
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Don Henley, Mike Campbell
Producer	Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Greg Ladanyi, Mike Campbell
Don Henley singles chronology
"I Can't Stand Still" (1983) "The Boys of Summer" (1984) "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" (1985)
Audio sample file info · help

"The Boys of Summer" is a song by Don Henley, with lyrics written by Henley and music composed by Henley and Mike Campbell, longtime guitarist for Tom Petty. It is the lead track and first single from Henley's 1984 album Building the Perfect Beast. The song's music video won many awards. "The Boys of Summer" was also performed live by Henley with the reunited Eagles; such a version is included on the group's 2005 Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne DVD.

History

Henley's song has a haunting rhythm and timbre, cemented by Campbell's iconic 1-7-5 repetitive riff over a vi-IV-V-IV chord pattern. Superficially, the song appears to be about the passing of youth and entering middle age, with the obvious theme of 'summer love' apparent in the choruses, and of reminiscence of a past relationship. The line, "My love for you will still be strong, after the boys of summer have gone" can be construed as a realization that relationships are often destroyed by one's own restlessness, even though there is a conflicting internal desire for that love to flourish.

In a 1987 interview with Rolling Stone, Henley explained that the song is more about aging and questioning the past—a recurring theme in Henley's lyrics (cf. "The End of the Innocence", and "Taking You Home".)

Accolades

"The Boys of Summer" was highly successful, reaching number 5 on the U.S. pop singles chart and topping the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was also a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. A re-release of the single in 1998 also reached #12.

Henley won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song.

"The Boys of Summer" was ranked #416 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi stated in Metal Edge magazine that "The Boys of Summer" is the song he most wishes he'd written himself.^{[citation needed]}

The song has also been used for the background music to some baseball events, such as a snippet of it being played during the commercial break of the 2003 MLB All Star Game & most recently, a commercial for MLB Network.

Music video

The music video to "The Boys of Summer" is a French New Wave-influenced piece directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Shot in black-and-white, it shows the main character of the song at three different stages of life (as a young boy, a young adult and middle-aged), in each case reminiscing about the past relationship. This is shown during the line "A little voice inside my head said don't look back, you can never look back" at which point, each of the three people look back in turn. The young boy in the video, played by seven year old Josh Paul, resembles a young Don Henley. The cutaways of the "boys" jumping in the air appear to have been influenced by the 1938 film Olympia. Interspersed with these scenes are segments of Henley miming the words of the song while driving in a convertible. At its conclusion, the video uses the post-modern conceit of exposing its own workings, as with a wry expression Henley drives the car away from a rear projection screen.

The video won the Video of the Year at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards (leading Henley to comment at the Awards the following year that he had won for "riding around in the back of a pickup"). It also won that year's awards for Best Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. The Best Direction award was presented to Mondino by Henley's then-former Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey.

Chart performance

Chart (1984)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	5
US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
Chart (1985)	Peak position
Dutch GfK chart	23
Dutch Top 40	26
German Media Control Charts	18
Irish Singles Chart	7
UK Singles Chart	12
Chart (1998)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	23
UK Singles Chart	12
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Finnish Singles Chart	16
Swedish Singles Chart	35

Codeseven version

Codeseven's album A Sense of Coalition (1998) gained popularity on college radio stations for a cover of "The Boys of Summer" (not to be confused with The Ataris' cover of the same song that became a mainstream radio hit years later).

DJ Sammy version

"The Boys of Summer"
Single by DJ Sammy
from the album Heaven
Released	November 18, 2002
Recorded	2001
Genre	Trance, dance
Length	4:55
Label	Robbins/Ministry of Sound/Data
Writer(s)	Don Henley, Mike Campbell
DJ Sammy singles chronology
"Heaven" (2002) "The Boys of Summer" (2003) "Rise Again" (2004)
Audio sample file info · help

DJ Sammy (with vocals performed by Loona) covered the song in 2002. It was released in November 2002 as the third and last single released from the album Heaven. Despite not receiving the same critical acclaim as Henley's version, this cover peaked at number 2 in the United Kingdom - ten spots higher than the original in that country. It was certificated Platinum by RIANZ.

List of remixes

1. Soulside Mix
2. Green Court Remix
3. Original Version
4. Humate Remix
5. Martin Eyerer Remix
6. Original Radio Mix
7. Original Extended Version
8. Single Version
9. Klubbheads Remix
10. Jessy Remix
11. BCD Project Remix

Music video

There were two music videos for the single. The official one features DJ Sammy driving a classic Mercedes-Benz 190SL along winding roads on cliffs beside a seashore and Loona singing the lyrics while there are scenes of young people enjoying themselves at a beach. Sammy arrives in the evening at a dance party on the beach and meets a female acquaintance at the end of the video.

The alternate version features DJ Sammy driving a Mercedes-Benz CLK around Barcelona and is accompanied by a seemingly boisterous young man. Two girls are shown riding on a scooter following them. The video ends when Sammy gets fed up with his opinionated passenger, stops his car, gets out and walks around it, pulls his companion and kicks him. Meanwhile, the two girls who were playing miniature golf nearby get in and drive away in the unattended car with DJ Sammy watching them drive off.

Chart performance

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	9
Austrian Singles Chart	49
Irish Singles Chart	15
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	5
Chart (2003)	Peak position
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	20
Dutch GfK chart	31
Dutch Top 40	19
Swedish Singles Chart	36
UK Singles Chart	2

The Ataris version

"The Boys of Summer"
Single by The Ataris
from the album So Long, Astoria
Released	September 29, 2003
Genre	Pop punk
Length	4:20
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Don Henley, Mike Campbell
The Ataris singles chronology
"In This Diary" (2003) "The Boys of Summer" (2003) "The Saddest Song" (2003)
Audio sample file info · help

In 2003, the rock band The Ataris covered "The Boys of Summer" for their album So Long, Astoria. The song became their second single when a radio station began to play it. The Ataris' version of the song replaced the 'Deadhead sticker' reference with one more appropriate to the age group of their fans, namely a 'Black Flag sticker', in honor of the '80s punk band. The single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains their most successful single to date.

Chart performance

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	24
German Singles Chart	45
New Zealand Singles Chart	17
Swiss Singles Chart	87
UK Singles Chart	49
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	20
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	36
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	2

Other versions

• In 1985, Detroit radio station WRIF's "JJ & The Morning Crew" (Jim Johnson & George Baier) released a parody version called "After the Brewery on Gratiot is Gone," when the Stroh Brewery Company demolished its original Detroit brewery.
• In 2006 the Norwegian quartet of Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Alejandro Fuentes and Askil Holm released a cover of the song which became a hit in Norway, reaching #12 on VG-lista.
• In 2006, Chicago-area band 7th Heaven performed a version which sounds similar to the Ataris' version, although with a slightly faster beat.^{[citation needed]}
• On 1 September 2006, an acoustic version of this song was performed by the Custom Kings on the Like a Version segment of the Mel in the Morning program on the Australian radio station Triple J.
• The Hooters recorded a version that featured mandolins, piano, acoustic guitars, and harmony vocals on their 2007 album Time Stand Still after performing the song as a fan favorite during their live shows the previous three years.
• Other versions were recorded by Bree Sharp on More B.S. (2002) and Sara Johnston (of Bran Van 3000) as a hidden track on Sleeper (2006).
• John Mayer covered the song during his 2010 Battle Studies tour, with Pat Monahan of Train, who provided vocals. Train served as the opening act for the tour.
• Dutch band A Balladeer covered the song as a B-side for their second single Fortune Teller.
• Dutch band 3JS covered the song as a B-side for their single Toen Ik jou Vergat.
• Show of Hands covered the song on their 2010 album Covers 2.

External links

• Video on VH1 Classic