"Boston" is a song by American rock band Augustana, from their debut album ''

All the Stars and Boulevards ''All the Stars and Boulevards'' is the debut album by American rock band Augustana The album was released September 6, 2005, by Epic Records. The album's release went largely unnoticed at the time. However, the single "Boston" was used during ...

'' (2005). The song was released as the second single on January 17, 2006. It was originally produced in 2003 by

Jon King Jonathan Michael King (born 8 June 1955) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and Grammy nominated art director, best known as the singer of the post-punk band Gang of Four. Biography King attended Sevenoaks School, where he was a memb ...

for their demo, ''Midwest Skies and Sleepless Mondays,'' and was later re-recorded with producer Brendan O'Brien for ''

''.

Background and release

In May 2005, the band announced the release date for their debut studio album, ''

'', as well as releasing "Boston" for download on their website along with two other tracks. The song was released as the second single in 2006 and soon gained radio airplay.

Composition

The sheet music for "Boston" is published in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

, and is set in

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 147 beats per minute. Dan Layus's vocal range spans from A₃ to G₅. Augustana bassist Jared Palomar has stated that the song is loosely based on one of Layus' high school classmates who left to attend

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. Palomar said, "It's more the idea of getting away from everything and starting over." Asked about the meaning of "Boston" in the song, Layus replied: "You know, growing up, I had extended family on the outskirts of Boston, and we’d fly out there for the holidays fairly often, and I always loved it out there, in my mind it always seemed like the farthest point away from California that you could go.... I must have been tapping into that when I was writing that song 'Boston' ...."

Music video

The music video for "Boston" was released on February 6, 2006, and was directed by Paul Fedor. It starts with lead singer Dan Layus playing a piano on a beach's shoreline at low tide initially, later showing numerous other abandoned pianos standing still on the shoreline. As the video progresses, other band members appear. Soon after, high tide comes up and the entire band continues to play as they are submerged in water over and over. Band members have been shown to be struggling to keep up with their musical instruments, but they do not seem to give up playing even in such adverse conditions. Some of the abandoned pianos are now partially underwater, tipped over, and/or partially sunken to the sand while

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

s flock on them. The video ends with the camera viewing the sea, but focused on a

buoy A buoy (; ) is a buoyancy, floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. History The ultimate origin of buoys is unknown, but by 1295 a seaman's manual referred to navig ...

. The video was filmed in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Zuma Beach Zuma Beach is a county beach at 30000 Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Malibu, California. One of the largest and most popular beaches in Los Angeles County, California, it is known for its long, wide sands and excellent surf. It consistently ran ...

Use in popular media

"Boston" was used in the third-season finale of '' One Tree Hill'', "The Show Must Go On", when Brooke Davis and

Lucas Scott Lucas Eugene Scott is a fictional character and the main protagonist from The WB /CW television series '' One Tree Hill'' created by Mark Schwahn and portrayed by Chad Michael Murray. Lucas is a talented basketball player and writer and the pat ...

have their last dance as a couple. Nathan and Haley drive away to their honeymoon meanwhile Lucas confesses to Peyton that he told Brooke about their kiss in the library. It was also featured in ''

Scrubs Scrub(s) may refer to: * Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland * Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff * ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program * Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," ...

'', 19th episode of the fifth season, "

His Story 3 The fifth season of the American comedy television series ''Scrubs'' premiered on NBC on January 3, 2006 and concluded on May 16, 2006 and consists of 24 episodes. For the first twelve episodes, two new episodes were broadcast back-to-back ever ...

", in ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. The show originally centered on five charact ...

'', 3rd episode of the first season ("The Fuzzy Boots Corollary"), in "Here Comes the Judge", the 15th episode of season one of ''

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

'', and in the season finale of the first season of '' Boston's Finest''. It's also heard in the film ''

A Warrior's Heart ''A Warrior's Heart'' is an American 2011 romantic sports drama film directed by Michael F. Sears and written by Martin Dugard. It stars Kellan Lutz, Adam Beach, Gabrielle Anwar and Ashley Greene. The film was released at the 2011 Cannes F ...

''.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Owl City version

American

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

project

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young (American musician), Adam Young, who created the project while exp ...

released a cover of the song on February 9, 2024, from the deluxe edition of his seventh studio album, '' Coco Moon''.

Background

On January 25, 2024, Young teased a cover of "Boston" via

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. It was officially released on February 9, and was produced by Young.

Critical reception

Peter Källman of ''Music Talkers'' gave a positive review of the track. He stated, "The song 'Boston' sort of starts in a 'classic' Owl City fashion, from what I can remember, with the cute synths modified to perfection and an overall bubbly feeling ..We introduce distorted guitars, rebellious pop-punk vocals, and much more. I would say this switch-up makes sense, and it is appreciated that someone put so much thought into their song." He described the first half of the song as "modern and in line with the Owl City sound." He also noted how the punk rock elements becomes "nostalgic."

Release history

References

{{authority control Songs about Boston 2005 singles Augustana (band) songs Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer) 2005 songs Epic Records singles