Boys (Summertime Love)
"Boys " is a song by the Italian singer Sabrina Salerno, released in May 1987 as the third single from her debut album Sabrina. The song topped the charts in France and Switzerland, while peaking within the top five entries in Austria, Belgium, Finland, West Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
It was Sabrina's first single to be released in the United Kingdom, reaching number 3 on the UK singles chart in June 1988. Outside Europe, "Boys " peaked at number 11 in Australia and number 6 in South Africa.
A remixed version was released only in France, retitled as "Boys '95" in 1995, and in 2003 as "Boys Boys Boys ".
Critical reception
William Shaw from Smash Hits wrote that Sabrina "sings a rather nicely inane tune about boys which jigs about infectiously enough as eurodisco tunes invariably do, but which is somewhat marred by the fact that it's all about hanging around on the beach in the summertime, which is rather inappropriate in January." Another editor, Richard Lowe, said, "Well, it's another brilliantly tragic disco record and if it's not a hit this summer after spurring millions of people to make buffoons of themselves in discos while on 'vacation' I'll eat my hat." In his review published in Record Mirror, James Hamilton described the song as a "plaintively squawked simple sing-song 120bpm Eurobeat canterer from Italy".Music video
The accompanying music video for "Boys " was filmed at the Florida hotel in Jesolo, Italy. In it, Sabrina splashes about in a swimming pool, while her bikini top keeps sliding down, thus repeatedly revealing varying amounts of her nipples. As a result, the BBC added black bars around the image when the video was aired on Top of the Pops in June 1988, effectively cropping it into widescreen. It remains one of the most downloaded video clips on the Internet.Track listings
- 7-inch single
- Dutch 7-inch single
- 12-inch single
- German 12-inch single – Remixed
- UK and Australian 12-inch single
- French CD single
- "Boys " – 3:50
- "Boys " – 5:40
- "Hot Girl" – 3:22
- 12-inch single – Remix by Pete Hammond
- US and Canadian 12-inch single
- French CD single
- "Boys" – 5:36
- "Boys" – 3:40
- French 12-inch single
- '''German 12-inch single – The Dance Remixes '''
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Lithuania Airplay | 5 |
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| Australia | 41 |
| Canada Dance/Urban | 11 |
| Europe | 13 |
| UK Singles | 35 |
| UK Dance | 15 |