Boys of Summer

CREDITS: Words and Music by Don Henley and Mike Campbell

ALBUM:  Building the Perfect Beast

MOODS:   

LYRICS

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm driving by your house
Though I know you're not home

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walking real slow and you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back"
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

COMMENTARY

I have to admit that I knew this song's video before I really knew about Don and his music. This song evokes memories of babysitting late at night for Stephanie and T.J. Keller and waiting for their dad to come home while watching hours and hours of MTV. The video always seemed to me to be something unusual...something arty and beautiful and very unlike other MTV fodder.

It's interesting that I equate this song with a sense of personal nostaliga because the song itself is nostalgia personfied. The narrator of the song reminices about a love that got away. Despite the fact that she made him crazy and he made her scream he wants to get her back and prove something to her. Even the setting of the song seems hazy and nostagic. When he sings about the empty streets and empty lake, one can picture a small town at the end of tourist season. The locals are left to carry on with their lives while the "exotic" boys of summer have left.

Don has talked about how he would drive his car to Zuma Beach outside of L.A. and sit on the swings and let his Irish melancholy get the better of him. You can feel that deserted, winter beach hauntedness throughout the song.

On another level, though, this song is about more than just a lost love. It's a pining for a lost way of life...lost idealism...lost hopes. The DeadHead sticker on the Cadillac is meant with a sense of irony. The youthful idealism has had to grow up and get a job...and a well paying one at that. Don has said that he actually did see this sticker and it got him to thinking about the goals of the youth movement in the sixties. Don is of the age that he saw these young people, fighting so hard for change (Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Vietnam) grow up and become the "man". Heck...everyone grows up, but that doesn't mean that there can't be some reflection about where you came from.

While this song was a mega-hit for Don, it's become an Eagles classic as well. It really is a show-stopper during Eagles shows when the entire band lines up for the rhythmic guitar piece in the middle. If you are lucky, you'll be there one night when they hop up and down.

What Does it Mean?

There really are no hidden meanings in this song. Some have speculated that "Boys of Summer" has something do do with baseball. This phrase originated to describe the '52 Brooklyn Dodgers and has since come to refer to any baseball player or team. Don has said that the song is most definately, "...not about baseball", but one has to wonder if there really is a very sublte connection. Dodgers fans felt betrayed and abandoned when their team "sold out" and moved to Los Angeles. Is this akin to growing up and getting a job?

What Don Says

"When we did "Boys of Summer," we recorded the whole song in whatever key it was written in, and I did it, and I said, "This is not quite right. " And it was finished we'd done the whole thing and the album was late-and I said, "We've got to raise this up half a step." And they all looked at me like, "You're nuts! What's the matter with you?" And I said, "No, believe me, it'll be a lot better." So we did it all over again, and they went, "Geez, you're right!"

"Boys of Summer" was one of those great, rare moments where I got so inspired by the track that Mike Campbell had given me that it just sort of wrote itself. It came just screamin' out of me. And I was jumping up and down in the car 'cause I knew I had something there. I said, "This is good and I know it's good, it's great." I like writing that way sometimes

"Beyond that, I'm also not convinced we really accomplished that much. Kennedy was president and everybody thought it was Camelot, but look at what we did. We raised all that hell ins the sixties, and then what di we come up with in the Seventies? Nixon and Reagan. The country reverted right back into the hands it was in before. I don't think we changed a dman thing, frankly. That's what the last verse of "The Boys of Summer" was about. I think our intentions were good, but te way we wetn about it was ridiculous. We thought we could change things by proesting and making firebombs and growing our hair long and wearing funny clothes. But we didn't follow through. After all our marching and shouting and scraming didn't work, we withdrew and became yuppies and got into the Me Decade."

ARTIFACTS

Watch the video (Don says he basically rode around on the back of a truck and grimmaced a lot.)

Swings at Zuma Beach

Wayfarers

Deadhead Sticker on a Cadlillac

RATE IT

YOUR THOUGHTS

We want your thoughts about this song and what it means to you. Hit the Comments button and type in whatever is on your mind. If you'd rather e-mail us your thoughts (for publication) or any additons to this entry, that's fine too.

Comments

[Karyn]

I heard that haunting 'voice inside my head' way back in the day, like a warning. Edging into my consciousness was the realization that I was becoming 20-something. About to be gone forever was the YOUTH that I thought I would live in forever. That realization evoked the feeling of loss for the breath-snathcing first love I thought I could never live without and then lost during those youthful years of promise and hope. BOS captures just those vignettes of my life perfectly. I was at the beach endlessly, dreaming of love and hope. I remember the feeling of melancholy at the end of the day, at the end of the era when everythhing was empty and gone. Don's perfect picture of regret for things we can't do anything about or people we can't do anythng about because they're all gone forever, is poignant indeed. Just another beautiful Henley masterpiece........and I agree with L&M, it's NOT about baseball!!! (lol)

[catzeyez]

Your story is so similar to mine L&M- we are the same age and both from Wisconsin. When I first heard Boys of Summer, it was also on MTV; I was staying with my Aunt and Uncle for the summer in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was endless days of sun and beach and nights of quiet contemplation; I was 16. I had known about the Eagles for years and Don, but I was not prepared. I was sitting in the house one evening all alone watching MTV when those haunting first notes began, and that video! I agree; beautiful, poignant. It took my breath away. I think I fell in love with Don that night. Every time I hear it to this day, my heart speeds up a little and I ALWAYS crank it. I always took the "made you crazy/made me scream" line as very sexual though; maybe that was just wishful thinking. ;) Anyway, an elegant, haunting song about nostalgia that literally embodies it for me. "Those days are gone forever...I should just let them go...BUT...."

But indeed....

[Gert Fjord Olesen]

From the very first time I heard "Boys of Summer" it has been one of those songs that I just can't get out of my head.

It always fills me with a sense of happy nostalgia and I can't help screaming my head of singing along to it.

It makes me think of old girlfriends, teenage infatuations, not having a care in the world except where what SHE is doing right now.

PS.: To Karyn: Youth is not a m atter of years. It's how you feel inside and You can't feel old when You isten to Don or the Eagles!

[Merry in Sacramento]

remember seeing Boys of Summer on MTV. I was 21 years old, newly married and suddenly pregnant. MTV was only three or four years old. Suddenly these images flashed on the TV, accompanied by Don's soulful, mourning voice, and I was rivited. The video was so NOT the usual MTV flash - Madonna and Prince ruled the airwaves, a-ha was the newest thing in videos, Bon Jovi was brand new - and along came this sound that made me stop in my tracks. The black and white images, the rolling waves, the meloncholy of a love lost was so vivid. Who hasn't driven past someone's house, 'though I know you're not home'?

That song still touches something deep in me, and now I know the soul behind the song. Thanks, guys.

[T]

Not really unlike any of you, you are probably listening to the song while commenting, You all put it so perfectly "age of innocents" "lost love" well since no-one will probably ever read this, Her name was Maria and she had dark hair, dark brown beautiful eyes, she was a ballerina. We dated all through HS I graduated but she was a year behind. It burned into my mind like a flame. 1985 on the beach in OC Md, wayfarers, hair slicked back, the last hooray of the summer, before she goes back to school for her senior year and me going to boot camp,,,,I just remember the guys just staring at her and her stupid wonderful laugh "guys are soooo lame" Then scrounging change from the seats of my VW Rabbit and from allll the pennies from “need a penny take penny” trays, in a half a dozen dirty Sheets stores in OCMD. This dam song epitomizes my life in 1985, its nostalgic, haunting, but very sad in its deep meaning,,,,the end. In Dec 1986 I received my dear john 2 weeks before graduation; I wish I could have spent just 1 more second with her. But you get married; get a career, get great kids and "1985" seems like 80 years ago, Thank you for reminding me. Take Care.

[Petra Schenk-van den Eijnde (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)]

Everytime I hear "Boys of Summer" I get goosebumps on my legs and arms. Together with "In a New York Minute" one of the most beautiful songs. For me the song means saying goodby to your innocent youth, feelings about a first love. It gives my soul a special feeling! I remember the clip very well, it was in the eighties. I think I was 16 or 17.
I think I have found the truth meaning of the song. But nevertheless, I hope I will still have goosebumps when I will hear it again! Don and the other members. I hope you all have a good time coming to The Netherlands in June!

Don Henley, ex Eagles's "The Boys Of Summer"
Supposedly a nostalgic love song on the surface, this song is about post-WW2 racism in the US. The "Boys of Summer" were the American troops who went to Europe in the latter stages of WW2 to expedite the end of the war on the German Nazis. The story-teller returns to the US after the war, only to discover that racism is just as evident in the US. He laments, "I'm driving by your house though I know you're not home" - the house is the Whitehouse and the story-teller refers to the emptiness or lack of spirit in the Whitehouse - it's a place that tolerates or fosters racism, too. A black man is also seen down the barrel of a gun as the gunman says to himself, "I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun".

[Douglas J. De Clue]

I have alwayss been a huge fan of Don's and of the Eagles my entire life (I'm 39). For much of my life I was unable to see them perform live anywhere and had to make due with their albums.

I got to see them play Atlanta in 1994 on their reunion tour and then last year I saw the Eagles play Providence Rhode Island and then I got to see Don Henley play a solo gig down here in Kissimmee Florida which was a real treat because I got 12th row seats in a very small venue for a very reasonable ticket price.

Their songs are a total rarity these days, in that they have real lyrics with actual meanings and that they aren't afraid to take stands on social and political issues.

(The only exceptions to the mind numbing meaningless music of today that I can think of at the moment are by "Green Day" and the "Dixie Chicks".)

From the "Last Resort" to "Little Tin God" to "Inside Job", Don Henley has not been afraid to speak out and he has done so in a very insightful way.

I am writing today because I came in search of the lyrics to "Little Tin God" this morning after hearing that Texas Republican Congressman Delay is dropping out of his re-election bid for Congress after being indicted and after his links to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff were exposed.

This song seems even more relevant today than it did under Reagan. Our new cowboy named "Jingo" is even worse.

Can we talk Don into running for Tom Delay's seat? He's from Texas right?

Your fan,

Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL

[Jordan]

I definitely agree about the "Goosebumps" syndrome whenever I hear this song. I'm from a small tourist town, and every September these lyrics ring true. The demise of the sun, the happiness, the excessiveness, the camaraderie, sun tans, sun burns, cold beer, chicks, hot rods, sea gulls and black outs. I hear this song and I am haunted by those crazy days and nights of my youth...and of a girl that I loved. Oh Aoif, I loved you then, and I still do. Are you "gone forever"? I hope you think of those days as much as i do....And I hope no one reads this ;)

[Lisa Woore]

This song brings goosebumps up on my arm no matter where I am. It's heart stopping intro has actually seen me hold my breath with anticipation at gigs. It's one of those songs that crawls under your skin and stays there. It's funny how it makes you look back and think of the crazy days of your teens and am I the only person who regrets not going a little bit wilder while I had the chance?

A brilliant song...there's always someone to remember

[Kristine]

Things happen. People fall in love at the wrong time in thier lives. Sometimes things are complicated and you only get that one last look that happens to be summer. Sometimes other people prevent you from taking a full crack with the bat. The real Boys Of Summer were born in 1975, 1978 and 1981, respectively, and are now all grown up. The real lyric writer, wrote about loving someone beyond the years that it would take for her boys to grow up, and has no proof after twenty three years. But wants to say thank you to Don Henley and Mike Campbell for the superb job. So, now I work on another song. Watch the movie Working Girl sometime.

[Bobby]

Re: Little Tin God ----

I always find it amusing when musicians lament the current socioeconomic conditions of the age, whether it be the 60's, 80's or 2000's. Henley is no different. Arguably his most successful decade was the 1980's. He sold a record number of albums precisely because Americans had the disposable income to do so. I think it disingenuous to argue that the economic policies of Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with that. Don't get me wrong, his music is enjoyable but he should stick to his strengths, playing drums and singing harmonies with Glen Frey.

[judy b.]

Something made me think of this song today and before I went to iTunes to buy it I seached on "Eagles deadhead sticker" to find the real title. In a click I slipped into a world of people reminiscing about memory, a world I found by following one tangential memory of a song about memory; a 10-minute adventure.

[Alex Bogatiryov]

What can I say that has not already been said so wonderfully. I too get major goosebumps and crank it up every time I hear this song. I was too young to have heard it when it came out but when I first heard it on the radio, it took my breath away. That was when I truly appreciated Don Henley. The tune and the lyrics are so perfect. "After the boys of summer have gone" seems to represent that fall in one's life when one knows that their best days are behind them, but still clings on to the wonderful memories which they will always ahve. Peronally, it does remind me of a great summer that I spent with my then girlfriend in Bulgaria and how we seemingly magically fell in love that year. Too bad the long-distance factor eventually killed the relationship, but those times will always live in my memory. It also reminds me of how idealistic I used to be, beliving in communism, worker power, and the fact that everyone is building a bright future. Now I have grown up to become the biggest cynic, working a day job I hate, almost no social life, and not being able to enjoy what I used to enjoy. Even summer does not seem so special anymore as I have to work. It really seems like my youth has been lost and this song brings back the hope that I once had and the love that I though I had. I know that it is time to move on but I can see...

[HALEY]

I LOVE DON HENLEY AND THIS SONG. WHO EVER SAYS THAT DON IS HOTTEST, KOOLEST PERSON ALIVE THERE SO KOOL!

[Andy Allan]

I have always rated this song very highly but rediscovered it when our bassist suggested that we should each bring three new items to the table at the next rehearsal. I nominated this one and now I can't stop playing it. It speaks on many levels and I don't care to speculate on political meanings - it is too beautiful to be regarded as anything other than art in its own right. Our bassist dropped his nomination in order to back mine. The guy has taste.

Being a (novice) drummer I am fascinated as much by the edgy sticking as by the lyrics and the overall tonal quality. If anyone can direct me to a drum score for this I would be very grateful.

Andy Allan (Shih Tzus), Oxfordshire UK

[Pat]

I have been listening to this song non stop since noon today ( the hour i took to get back home doesnt count) and it is 1.00 am.. it is one of those eagles/ henley numbers that does your head in.

[Amy]

To me, that song is about the loss of a beautiful time gone by - maybe youth, maybe a perfect love afair, maybe a time when anything seemed possible. It's about fading into reality and adulthood, but the memories glimmering in the back of your mind. I love Henley. He always manages to say what I feel.

[LadyR]

This video and song has haunted me ever since I first saw and heard it on MTV/VH1. It brings back not only memories of the 60s and the hope and determination we had to change the world for the better, but nostalgic longing for that lifestyle that seemed so free and healthy, yet combined with the painful reality that none of those personal relationships in my youth bore any permanent fruit except sorrow. This video is my all time favorite--everything works together to produce a masterpiece in the genre. A tour de force.

[Arun]

To me, rather clueless about the American context - I grew up in India - the song is a promise of constancy, even though the loved one is distracted by easy-come easy-go guys.

"And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone"

[LD]

The phrase Boys of Summer did not originate with a 1950s baseball book. The boys of summer refers to tourists coming to a resort location. More often it refers to upper class boys who may have more to offer than the homegrown boys.

[T Diggs]

The Boys of Summer has always struck a nerve with me. I remember being 5 or 6 on the Jersey Shore when this came out and watching the video and not fully understanding it. 25 years later, I really do. As I head into my 30s this song just reminds me of my entire 20s. All the girls I dated, the crazy nights going out. Wow it went so quick.

It just hits this part of me that no other song does. And it does every time I listen to it. I can't put into words how incredible this song is.

[KJC]

This song as a simple meaning and its not about baseball. "I can't tell you if my love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer are gone."
The song is about a girl who breaks up with him to fool around with the boys of summer. She likely did this because she went away for the summer as "hes driving past her house knowing shes not there" and also because "he can see her (in his head) her brown skin shinning in the sun and he doesn't know if "those days are gone forever and he should just let em go" BUT "He can see her brown skin shinning in the sun, BUT he cant tell her his love for her will still be srong after the boys of summer have gone" hes doesnt know if he will still be able to love her after shes done with her summer of being a good time girl. "but baby when he gets her back he's going to show her what he's made of. " So he has intentions to show her the real man he is. Word.

[Jennifer]

I interpreted the second verse the same way as catzeyez.