"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, jus ...

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", "Des ...

, 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 ...

. 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 UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. 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 The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far m ...

drum machine. He showed it to

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

, but they felt it did not fit with the record they were working on, '' Southern Accents.'' At the suggestion of producer

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...

, 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 F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 88 beats per minute. Henley's vocals span F₃ to A₄. The lyrics appear to be about the passing of

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

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 ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', 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 H ...

".) 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 "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal g ...

. 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" ''Und ...

poem.

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 his most successful hit in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, reaching No. 12 on the

. 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 ''

'' magazine's list of

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

. "The Boys of Summer" is included in '' The Pitchfork 500'',

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

'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 "Don't Come Around Here No More" is a song written by Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. It was released in February 1985 as the lead single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' '' Southern Accents'' ...

", 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 A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

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 Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna, David Bowie, Sting, Björk, Don Henley, Neneh Cherry, Axel Bauer and Les Rita ...

. Shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, 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, 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 bigge ...

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

bandmate Glenn Frey.

Personnel

* Don Henley – vocals * Mike Campbell – synthesizers, guitars,

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 – bass

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

DJ Sammy version

In 2002, Spanish trance artist

DJ Sammy Samuel Bouriah (born 19 October 1969), better known by his stage name DJ Sammy, is a Spanish DJ and record producer. He has released five albums and has had five top-10 hits, including a cover of Bryan Adams' "Heaven", which reached number one ...

(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 ...

(RMNZ). The cover also reached number nine in Australia and the top 20 in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, 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 The Ataris are an American punk rock band from Anderson, Indiana. Formed in 1996, they released five studio albums between 1997 and 2007. Their best-selling album is ''So Long, Astoria'' (2003), which was certified gold. Their high-charting s ...

covered "The Boys of Summer" for their album ''

So Long, Astoria ''So Long, Astoria'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Ataris, released on March 4, 2003. The album's title song alludes to the 1985 film ''The Goonies'', which is set in Astoria, Oregon. Background In February 2001, The Atar ...

''. 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 drumm ...

'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 MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as VH1 Smooth, an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It w ...

{{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