2-fer-1 Friday Farce: The Boys of Summer

It's late, I know, but I really have been whacked since I got back from Australia. So to make up for my tardiness I've put together a super-duper bumper edition of the Friday Farce; so super-duper and bumper, in fact, that it's virtually interactive!

So Don Henley out of The Eagles bounced back from his 1980 arrest and subsequent charging for "possession of cocaine, Quaaludes, and marijuana, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor" and had a few solo career hits back in the 80s; amongst them was a charming tune called The Boys of Summer, which although I feel I almost oughtta know better, I can't help loving to pieces. It's truly "melancholic and gorgeous", and there's something quite plaintive about it which is very affecting.

Today you get to choose between two covers and decide which is truly the Friday Farce: will it be The Ataris' earnest, faithful and ultimately pointless fist-pumping revved-up possibly-even-Emo (*gasp*) skate-"punk"anthemn? Or Spanish retardo-club-techno producer DJ Sammy's appalling-eyewear-wearing bad-haircut-sporting convertible-driving glowstick-in-anus-inserting female-diva-horror shocker? The call is yours and yours alone.

The Ataris - The Boys of Summer (3.95 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

DJ Sammy - The Boys of Summer (3.33 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

I kinda like the irony of The Ataris altering the "yuppie-baiting" line about the "Deadhead sticker on the Cadillac" to be a Black Flag sticker; as has been dicussed here previously, punk is well and truly dead, and it's due in no small part to clueless neo-pop-skate-"punk" bands like The Ataris doing earnest, sentimental covers of 80s commercial top-10 songs. But don't get me started.

Don Henley's main fan-site is here; this is where I learnt that in addition to snorting coke off the breasts of fucked-up-on-'Ludes teenage jailbait (see above), Don enjoys fishing, reading, "writing scathing letters", cooking, and gardening. He is apparently also "an environmentalist, intellect and crusader for a variety of important causes"; however a cursory investigation hasn't revealed any supporting evidence for these statements.

Over here on his official site you can actually listen to the original tune in WMA and RealAudio formats (it's track 01 off the Building a Perfect Beast album).