The Boys of Summer (1984)

"The Boys of Summer" is a song by American rock musician Don Henley. The lyrics were written by Henley and the music was composed by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was released on October 26, 1984, as the lead single from Henley's second solo studio album Building the Perfect Beast. 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 on 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 band's double DVD Farewell 1 Tour: Live from Melbourne (2005). "The Boys of Summer" has been covered by several artists, including DJ Sammy in 2002 and American punk rock band the Ataris in 2003.

Writing

Mike Campbell, the guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, wrote a demo for "The Boys of Summer" while experimenting with a LinnDrum drum machine and Oberheim Xpander synthesizer. He showed it to Tom Petty but he felt it did not fit with the record they were working on, Southern Accents (1985). At the suggestion of its record producer Jimmy Iovine, Campbell played it for Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals. They re-recorded the song after Henley decided to change the key.

Composition and meaning

"The Boys of Summer" is a heartland rock, electronic rock and synth-pop song, using a repeating guitar riff. It was recorded in the key of D♯ minor with a tempo of 177 beats per minute (BPM). Henley's vocals span F♯3 to A♯4. However, it has been played as if it were in C♯ minor but with a capo added on the 2nd fret, which transposes it a whole step higher to D♯ minor.

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.

I was driving down the San Diego Freeway and got passed by a $21,000 Cadillac Seville, the status symbol of the right-wing upper-middle-class American bourgeoisie – all the guys with the blue blazers with the crests and the grey pants – and there was this Grateful Dead "Deadhead" bumper sticker on it!

The song's title is taken from Roger Kahn's 1972 book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, which was in turn taken from a Dylan Thomas poem.

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 boy is dressed in a style typical of the 1950s, the teenage lovers are dressed in a style characteristic of the early 1960s while the middle-aged man is dressed in the style of the 1980s. As a boy in the 1950s, the protagonist practices playing the drums, suggesting musical aspirations; as a teenager in the 1960s, he runs down a beach with his girlfriend whom he kisses passionately; and as a middle-aged man in the 1980s, he appears to be an executive of some sort who is comfortable, but unhappy in life as he sits at his desk remembering his youth. The young boy in the video is played by a seven-year-old Josh Paul, while the girl is played by Audie England. Interspersed with these scenes are segments of Henley articulating the words of the song while appearing to be riding in the back of a pickup truck through the streets of Los Angeles. At its conclusion, the video uses the post-modern concept of exposing its own workings, as an automobile pulls away from a rear projection screen of the video playing until it's revealed from the rear-view mirror that Don Henley was actually driving a car the whole time.

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 Jean-Baptiste Mondino by Henley's then-former Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey.

Personnel

• Don Henley – vocals
• Mike Campbell – synthesizers, guitars, LinnDrum programming, Linn 9000 programming, percussion
• Danny Kortchmar – synthesizers, guitars
• Steve Porcaro – synthesizers
• Larry Klein – bass