"The Boys of Summer" is a song released in 1984 by

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

vocalist and drummer

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

, with lyrics written by Henley and music composed by Mike Campbell of

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...

. 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 Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

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

; a version is included on the group's 2005 DVD '' Farewell 1 Tour: Live from Melbourne.''

Writing

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 ''Southern Accents'' is the sixth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on March 26, 1985, through MCA Records. The album's lead single, "Don't Come Around Here No More", co-written by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, peaked at n ...

.'' At the suggestion of producer Jimmy Iovine, Campbell played it for

, 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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, 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 "Taking You Home" is a song by Don Henley from 2000 album ''Inside Job''. The track was written by Henley along with Stuart Brawley and Stan Lynch and was Henley's only number one on the Adult Contemporary chart as a solo artist. "Taking You Hom ...

".) In an interview with '' NME'' in 1985, Henley explained the '"

Deadhead A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings o ...

sticker on a Cadillac" lyric as an example of his generation selling out. The song's title is borrowed from

Roger Kahn Roger Kahn (October 31, 1927 – February 6, 2020) was an American author, best known for his 1972 baseball book '' The Boys of Summer''. Biography Roger Kahn was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 31, 1927, to Olga (''née'' Rockow) and ...

's 1972 acclaimed book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, which in turn borrowed it from a famous

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

poem.

Accolades

"The Boys of Summer" reached No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topped the ''Billboard''

chart for five weeks. It was his most successful 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 The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works (songs or albums) containin ...

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". Campbell changed the station in case the song would upset Petty, but another station was also playing the song. 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 French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

-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 A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

. The young boy in the video is played by a seven-year-old

Josh Paul Joshua William Paul (born May 19, 1975) is a retired American professional baseball catcher and professional coach. He most recently served as the quality control coach for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for ...

, while the girl is played by Audie England. Interspersed with these scenes are segments of Henley articulating the words of the song while driving in a convertible. At its conclusion, the video uses the post-modern concept 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 The 1985 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 13, 1985, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1984, to May 1, 1985. The show was hosted by Eddie Murphy at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Don Henley was the night's bi ...

(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 The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

, and

Best Cinematography This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

. The Best Direction award was presented to Mondino by Henley's then-former

bandmate Glenn Frey.

Personnel

* Don Henley – vocals * Mike Campbell – synthesizers, guitars, LinnDrum programming, percussion * Danny Kortchmar – synthesizers, guitars *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

– synthesizers *

Larry Klein Larry Klein (born March 17, 1956) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobby ...

– bass

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

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 final single from second studio album, ''

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

'' (2002). 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 Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

(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.

Track listing

# "The Boys of Summer" (original radio edit) – 3:58 # "The Boys of Summer" (original extended) – 6:33 # "The Boys of Summer" (Green Court remix) – 8:08 # "Appalachian Fall" – 4:54

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

The 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 "

sticker" reference with one that the band felt was 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 Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

's " Faint") and No. 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It remains their most successful single. Mike Campbell claimed that he enjoyed 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.The Ataris videography
Mvdbase.com

Chart performance

Certifications

References

External links

Video
on VH1 Classic {{DEFAULTSORT:Boys Of Summer, The Songs about old age 1984 songs 1984 singles 2002 singles 2003 singles Black-and-white music videos Columbia Records singles Data Records singles Don Henley songs DJ Sammy songs Geffen Records singles Ministry of Sound singles The Ataris songs MTV Video of the Year Award Number-one singles in Scotland Songs written by Don Henley Songs written by Mike Campbell (musician) Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction Music videos directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino Rock ballads 1980s ballads American synth-pop songs