Summertime: Boys of Summer

Bree Sharp: Boys of Summer

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A cover of a song about summer? Hey, I can do that too!

Don Henley's 1984 hit "Boys of Summer" is perhaps one of the quintessential songs about the season in the last few decades. The feel of the music just feels like summer, and the lyrics exemplify the season and how it, and us, change over the years.

In the song, as in life, summer begins as a season of fun and adventure that seems almost surreal when it's over. It's the time of year everyone gets excited about when they're growing up as it means no school or homework, and a time to travel, spend time with your friends with less supervision, and partake in those glorious summer romances. Alas, as we grow older the summer loses some of it's luster as we do much of the same things we do the rest of the year. No longer do we have a whole season to revel in those travels, romances and adventures, but we always feel that surreal feeling of summers gone by when the boys/girls were prettier, the weather nicer, and the days shorter.

As brief as the summers of our youth that were over way too soon, so are the memories and romances of those years gone by. The whole feeling in the song is that we may try, but we can never recapture those feelings, despite how real and significant they feel at the time. The love for this song has lasted long past those sweet summer romances though, as it's been covered a bunch of times over the years. This one, sung by female singer-songwriter Bree Sharp, brings a new twist to it from the voice of the other sex.