The Boys of Summer (song)

"The Boys of Summer" is a song released in 1984 by Eagles vocalist and drummer Don Henley, with lyrics written by Henley and music composed by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The lead single from Henley's album "Building the Perfect Beast", "The Boys of Summer" was released on October 26, 1984. It reached number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in the US, number one on the "Billboard" Top Rock Tracks chart, and number 12 in the UK Singles Chart.
The music video won several awards. "The Boys of Summer" was also performed live by Henley with the reunited Eagles; a version is included on the group's 2005 DVD "."
Writing.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell wrote a demo for "The Boys of Summer" while experimenting with a LinnDrum drum machine. He showed it to Tom Petty, but they felt it did not fit with the record they were working on, "Southern Accents." At the suggestion of producer Jimmy Iovine, Campbell played it for Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocal. They rerecorded the song after Henley decided to change the key.
Composition.
The song is cemented by a repetitive guitar riff. The song was recorded in the key of F major with a tempo of 88 beats per minute. Henley's vocals span F3 to A4.
The lyrics appear to be about the passing of youth and entering middle age, with the nostalgic theme of "summer love" and reminiscence of a past relationship. In a 1987 interview with "Rolling Stone", Henley explained that the song is about aging and questioning the past—a recurring theme in Henley's lyrics (cf. "The End of the Innocence", and "Taking You Home".) In an interview with "NME" in 1985, Henley explained the '"Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" lyric as an example of his generation selling out.
Musicologist David Ingram has stated that Henley's work embodies many cultural contradictions. Those are also inherent in "The Boys of Summer" which despite Henley's environmental activism, superficially extols car culture.
Accolades.
"The Boys of Summer" reached No. 5 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the "Billboard" Top Rock Tracks chart for five weeks. It was also a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart. A re-release of the single in 1998 also reached No. 12.
In 1986, Henley won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song. "The Boys of Summer" was ranked No. 416 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "The Boys of Summer" is included in "The Pitchfork 500", Pitchfork Media's "Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to Present."
Tom Petty was astounded by the track's success. One day, he and Campbell were out on a car drive to listen to a mix of their song "Don't Come Around Here No More", but turned on the ignition and heard "The Boys of Summer". At that moment, Campbell changed the station in case the song would upset Petty, but Petty enjoyed listening to it and regretted initially turning it down.
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 a past relationship. Interspersed with these scenes are segments of Henley singing the words of the song while riding in a pickup truck. The young boy in the video is played by a seven-year-old Josh Paul, while the girl is played by Audie England.
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.
DJ Sammy version.
In 2002, Spanish trance artist DJ Sammy (with vocals performed by Dutch singer Loona) covered the song. It was released in 2002 as the third and last single released from the album "Heaven". This cover peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and was one of New Zealand's most successful hits of in 2002, reaching number three and earning a Gold certification from Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ). The cover also reached number nine in Australia and the top 20 in Flanders, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Music video.
The music video was filmed in València, Spain, and was released in November 2002.
Ataris version.
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 punk rock band from the 1980s. The single peaked at No. 2 on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Chart (held off the No. 1 top spot by Linkin Park's "Faint") and No. 20 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It remains their most successful single.
Mike Campbell later claimed that he liked the Ataris cover, stating that "it's not a song you expect a young band like that to do, but I kind of like their version of it."
Music video.
The music video was directed by Steven Murashige and was released in July 2003.