Henley Song Blog

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.

Heart of the Matter

Song Title: Heart of the Matter

Credits: Mike Campbell, Don Henley, JD Souther

Album: End of the Innocence

Lyrics:

I got the call today that I didn't wanna hear
But I knew that it would come
An old, true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you'd found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck and the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment and beg for something more?

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again

I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

Oh, these times are so uncertain; there's a yearning undefined
And people filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness; how can love survive
In such a graceless age?
The trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness
They're the very things we kill, I guess
Oh, pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms
And the work I put between us - you know, it doesn't keep me warm

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you, baby
And the more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I'd figured out
I have to learn again

I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if, you don't love me anymore

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down; you know, they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you, baby, 'cause life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby

I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me...

I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if, you don't love me...

(Forgiveness)
Yeah (Forgiveness
Baby(Forgiveness)
Oh (Forgiveness)
Ah, yeah (Forgiveness)
Ooh (Forgiveness)
Even if you don't love me anymore

Commentary:
I have a different take on this than most. I know that traditionally this is
believed to be Don asking for forgiveness, and while I think that's an
underlying element, I believe this is more about a man examining himself and his
need to forgive others.  While I recognize that this was co-written, for the
purposes of my interpretation, I'm going to assume that Don was the main
lyricist.  However, I do believe this can be conceptually generalized to any man
(or woman) looking at his life and deciding he needs to let go of hurt.

The song opens with the news that his ex-lover has moved on. The disappointment
implies that he might have harbored a secret hope she would come back to him, or
more negatively, that she wouldn't be able to find happiness without him.
This call causes him to reconcile himself to the fact that she'll never love him
again and that she can be happy without him.... and that that's a good thing.
When it comes down to the heart of the matter, it wasn't that she was a bad
person or that he was; other factors played into it - trouble, bad luck. This
helps him to understand that being angry at her is not only destructive, it's
unfair.

It's a struggle for him to come to terms with these changes, but if he's willing
to step outside of his narrow perspective to the big picture - "learning again"
by viewing the world with a new lens of understanding - it helps him.  That
doesn't mean it's easy, but he can try, and perhaps learn from the struggle as well.

He goes on to talk about the other things we do to hurt ourselves that stem from
selfishness (and the unwillingness to forgive is a type of selfishness and pride
as well - someone "hurt your pride" and you want to punish them, make them feel
badly, cause trouble for them, hope others dislike them as much as you do, wish
them ill, etc.).  Again, Don admits he struggles with this, too. It's all part
of coming to terms with the fact that making this all about what's been done to
him, as he had in the past, does nothing for him but increase that pain. It
further "kills" his ability to trust himself and others.

One may ask, if this is about self-examination, why is it directed at the
ex-lover? My answer to this is that Don wants for her the same kind of peace
he's finding through forgiveness. She no doubt was hurt by their breakup, too.
It's the ultimate in forgiveness to hope that the person you used to wish would
"get what's coming to them" is now someone you want to be happy.  This is
supported by the bridge - "you better put it all behind you, baby... you keep
carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside."  I also think this is supported
by what he himself said before playing it live for Hell Freezes Over - that it
took 42 years to write. Obviously, that's not the years since the ending of a
relationship, that's a lifetime. It took a lifetime to realize that he needed to
forgive not only an ex-lover, but anyone who's let him down.  Sadly, it's a
realization some never come to.

He winds up with the thought that life is short and forgiveness vital to
happiness, even if it is a struggle. He uses two Biblical alllusions to
emphasize this (see below).

What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)
The two most evident allusions are the religious ones of the last verse. First
is the reference to Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  This is
spoken by Jesus to the disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane - they'd fallen
asleep after they'd promised to watch with him and pray. For those of you
unfamiliar with the Bible, this occurred right before Jesus was captured by the
soldiers. He knew what was coming and was under so much emotional duress that he
sweated blood. He needed support, but his friend failed him. The second is a
modification of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" which comes from the Church of
England's Book of Prayer for burial services(the Book of Prayer used as its
basis for this Genesis 3:19: "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.")

I realize some would argue that these allusions have become so commonplace that
most don't even know where they came from, and thus we shouldn't presume Don
meant to refer to the Garden of Gethsemane.  They would say that he was just
using some ready-made tropes to get his idea across. However, I believe Don
chose his words more carefully than that argument implies. I think one can
assume that Don has a fairly good knowledge of the Bible and Protestant theology
due to his upbringing, and even if he didn't remember specifics and discarded
the belief system, I believe he had an awareness of their contextual import in
the literary sense.  Therefore, I think we can glean from his usage of them that
he is attempting to illustrate the need for understanding why those who should
be there for you aren't always, and forgiving them that weakness; additionally,
to emphasize the need for understanding that life is short and shouldn't be
wasted on the negativity of holding grudges.  THAT is the heart of the matter,
in my humble opinion.

What Don Says: "Took 42 years to write and about 4 minutes to sing."

Your Thoughts: I find the song very moving and its message an important one. So
many times people harbor hatred and bitterness in their hearts needlessly, not
realizing that they are only compounding their hurt by refusing to let go of it.
This song communicates the idea that it's not about what someone else does to
you, it's about how you deal with it.  You can choose to waste energy hoping
that person gets what they deserve and pays for how they treated you, or you can
forgive that person and hope they are able to overcome whatever causes them to
treat people badly. As I said before, Don admits this isn't easy - we're all
human; none of us are saints. It's easy to say that it's good to forgive, but
much harder to do.  That's why I especially love the line "Even if you don't
love me anymore."  She'll never do anything to "deserve" his forgiveness, but
he's giving it to her anyway. I'm sure he hopes for the same from her, but he
realizes he can't control that or make her forgive him. He can only choose his
own path, and he's doing so by letting go of the bitterness - no matter how hard
that may be. Even if he never fully succeeds, forcing himself to try will allow
him to go forward, emotionally and spiritually.

This Entry Written By: Nancy

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.