The boys of summer and the healing power of music (9-26-25)

"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."

— Don Henley, "The Boys of Summer"

The vision is forever etched into my mind. It was during our last trip together to Gulf Shores in March. I had settled into a hot tub when I realized I had forgotten my towel. At that moment, I saw my wife, Dorinda, walking toward me, wearing her sunglasses, waving my towel and smiling at me.

Now, every time I hear her favorite song — "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley — I think about that moment.

"But I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun, you got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby. I can tell you, my love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer have gone."

So many songs formed the soundtrack of our lives together since meeting in October 1983 and through 38 years of marriage. I lost her to cancer April 25. Through my grief, listening to music has helped me as much as anything. This column's playlist features three of those songs in particular — the aforementioned "Boys of Summer," "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters and Tom Petty's "Have Love, Will Travel." It's about the healing power of music.

"The Boys of Summer" is a poignant song, especially now as the shade has closed on summer with the official beginning of fall. The beach is a lonelier place these days. The summer crowds have gone. Winter visitors have yet to arrive. The mornings are cooler. Restaurants are less crowded. Oh, and the coffee seems to taste a little bit better with the cooler weather.

I enjoy going early for the sunrises or for the evening sunsets. There have been times recently when I've had the beach pretty much to myself. Such was the case early the morning of Sept. 17. And yes, before my day was over, I heard "The Boys of Summer."

The song was originally intended for Petty and was Dorinda's favorite. Whether on SiriusXM, Spotify or just the radio, I've heard it so often at appropriate times since Dorinda left this world. On May 15, I was driving to her mother's home — a place where we watched so many videos on MTV while dating in the '80s. Pulling into the driveway, the opening notes of "The Boys of Summer" started playing.

"I'm driving by your house, though I know you're not home ..."

I parked in the driveway, amazed, took a photo of what was playing, listened and cried.

"Hello, I've waited here for you.

Everlong."

– The Foo Fighters, "Everlong"

It's been five months since I lost the love of my life, a life where it's hard to find focus or purpose anymore. But then I hear one of our songs. And I turn it up. It wasn't gospel or country music for us; it was rock. But you can pick the genre of your choice. And you may discover music can help heal your heart. It won't completely heal you, of course. But it might help you breathe at that moment.

I miss her. I'm lonely. But music has helped. I've talked about the power of music with my cousin Jay Johnson, a talented musician whose dad, Jimmy, was one of the Muscle Shoals Swampers. He says there's no doubt music heals.

For Bear and me, there were so many songs, so many concerts. We saw the Foo Fighters play "Everlong" and "My Hero" at Madison Square Garden in 2018. We would see them three more times. We sang along with The Police to "Message in a Bottle" and "Roxanne" during their reunion tour in Atlanta in 2007. That might have been our favorite show of them all.

We listened to Bon Jovi sing about Tommy and Gina three times. There were multiple times seeing Heart and the Wilson sisters. We rocked with Journey and Def Leppard, Rick Springfield and Huey Lewis. We saw The Eagles in Mobile in the early '90s; and Henley himself playing an intimate park in Atlanta a few years later. We saw the Stones in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2019, and the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar, at an amphitheater in St. Augustine.

We sang every word to "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You" with 3 Doors Down at Orange Beach in 2023. We saw another of her very favorites — Harry Connick Jr. — in Birmingham for our anniversary in 2018. And we went to many Petty concerts.

There were more unforgettable evenings of music together — with Dorinda shining like a diamond. I'll hit repeat on times like these. "Everlong."

"My love will travel with you, everywhere."

– Tom Petty, "Have Love, Will Travel"

My Bear called me one afternoon a few years ago when she was walking and listening to music at Deibert Park in Florence following her lunch break. "That song by Tom Petty, 'Have Love, Will Travel,"' she said. "I love that song."

I did, too. So, it was added to the soundtrack of our lives. That playlist includes many songs by Petty. "Wildflowers" and "Free Fallin'" always bring a tear. There's "Crawling Back to You" with the line, "I'm so tired of being tired, sure as night will follow day. Most things I worry about, never happen anyway."

I'll leave you with the chorus from the Petty song she called me about that day in the park. These words:

"And when all of this is over, should I lose you in this (world), I want you to know you were the one. And then my love will travel with you, everywhere. Yeah, then my love will travel with you always."

The boardwalk and beach at the Gulf Shores public beach look lonely at sunrise on Sept. 17.

Wayne and Dorinda at New York's Citi Field in July 2024 to see the Foo Fighters.