The Boys of Summer (song)

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.^[2][3]

"The Boys of Summer" is a heartland rock,^[4] electronic rock^[5] and synth-pop song,^[6] 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 it were in C♯ minor but with capo added on the 2nd fret that transposes it a whole step higher, in D♯ minor.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The lyrics appear to be about the passing of youth and entering middle age, with the nostalgic theme of "summer love"^[11] and reminiscence of a past relationship.^[12] In a 1987 interview with Rolling Stone, Henley explained that the song is about aging and questioning the past^[13]—a recurring theme in Henley's lyrics (cf. "The End of the Innocence",^[14] and "Taking You Home".^[15]) In an interview with NME in 1985, Henley explained the '"Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" lyric as an example of his generation selling out.^[16][17]

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.^[18]

"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, reaching No. 12 on the UK singles chart. A re-release of the single in 1998 also reached No. 12.

Billboard called it "dance oriented pop swimming in synths and reverberating guitar".^[19]

In 1986, Henley won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards.^[20] In 2004, "The Boys of Summer" was ranked No. 423 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[21] In 2021, in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Rolling Stone re-ranked "The Boys of Summer" at No. 209.^[22] "The Boys of Summer" is included in The Pitchfork 500, Pitchfork Media's "Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to Present".^[23]

Tom Petty was astounded by the track's success. One day, he and Mike 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.^[24]

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,^[25] 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").^[26] 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.

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

Quick facts Single by DJ Sammy, from the album Heaven ...

"The Boys of Summer"
Standard artwork for most CD releases
Single by DJ Sammy
from the album Heaven
B-side	"Appalachian Fall"
Released	October 21, 2002 (2002-10-21)
Length	4:55
Label	Pulp Urban
Songwriters	Don Henley Mike Campbell
Producers	DJ Sammy Martin Eyerer Oliver Laib
DJ Sammy singles chronology
"Sunlight" (2002) "The Boys of Summer" (2002) "Rise Again" (2004)
Music video
"The Boys of Summer" on YouTube

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In 2002, Spanish trance artist DJ Sammy (with lead vocals performed by Dutch singer Loona) covered the song. It was released in 2002 as the third and final single from his second studio album, Heaven (2002). This cover peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and was one of New Zealand's most successful hits of 2002, reaching number three and earning a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.

Quick facts Single by, from the album So Long, Astoria ...

"The Boys of Summer"
Artwork for overseas commercial release
Single by the Ataris
from the album So Long, Astoria
Released	June 3, 2003
Genre	Punk rock pop-punk
Length	4:20
Label	Columbia
Songwriters	Don Henley Mike Campbell
The Ataris singles chronology
"In This Diary" (2003) "The Boys of Summer" (2003) "The Saddest Song" (2003)
Music video
"The Boys of Summer" on YouTube

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In 2003, the American rock band the Ataris released a punk rock and pop-punk cover of "The Boys of Summer" on their fourth studio album So Long, Astoria.^[83] It became their second single when a radio station began to play it. 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.^[84]

The Ataris' version of the song replaced the "Deadhead 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. Asked in a 2016 interview whether he was okay with the lyric change, Henley responded, "No, not really ... And if you noticed, we haven't heard much from the Ataris since then."^[85] Campbell, however, said that "it's not a song you expect a young band like that to do, but I kind of like their version of it."^[86]

In 2022, British band the Lightning Kids released their version of "The Boys of Summer" as a single from their album All of Those Nights.^[97]