Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air, the summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty street, 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 shining 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 will never 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 shining in the sun
I see you walking real slow and you're smiling at every one
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 shining 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
~ Don Henley & Mike Campbell
Can you guess my favorite line in this song? Of course you can! Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac. Not only does that line say so much more than its thirteen words, it just has such a cool rhythm to it. (Reminds me of Warren Zevon's line, "Little old lady got mutilated late last night," although that line, of course, has the added joy of alliteration.) Who drives a Cadillac and loves the Dead? Seriously. Anyway, this song is on Don Henley's 1985 release Building the Perfect Beast. You know Don Henley as the control freak of The Eagles.
In 1985, the video for this song won the MTV Video Music Award's "Video of the Year," which is hard to imagine compared to videos being produced these days. I did not link that video above because I would have had to log in to something or other to be able to share the video. You can google it and watch it for yourself. Meanwhile, the song alone should be available on my link (although you will have to click the "play" arrow).
But you already know this song, don't you? It has been connected to the Great American Pastime, baseball, for many years. In fact, the title was apparently taken from a book by Roger Kahn, Boys of Summer, about the Brooklyn Dodgers' move to L.A. I have not read that book, but I did read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Till Next Year, about the same thing. I highly recommend it.
When I was a teenager, summers were full of boys. There was a lake community nearby, the summer home to many "city families." Having grown somewhat bored by the same old boys who lived in our small town, we girls were titillated by those city boys with their Brooklyn accents. Several summer romances emerged from the town's block dances and hayrides, in which city boys met country girls. Although it never happened for me, I did have a crush or two on those boys, which made summer in a small town much more exciting. Don't look back, you can never look back.
But, alas, summers end. After a stretch of daytime temps in the upper 80s, today we are scheduled to return to normal weather for late September. I guess we'll get used to it. After all, the boys of summer have gone. Along with the warmth.
Thank god there's pumpkin ale and cider donuts.
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