If the comfort of a blanket fort could be translated into a rock tune, it’d sound like “Bedhead Boy” by Beeef.
On their newest single — out today, May 10 — the Boston band takes two trips back in time, returning not only to the bliss of an early-’90s childhood, but also to the harrowing pandemic that caused vocalist and guitarist Perry Eaton to re-immerse himself in his earliest memories. Set in 1993, “Bedhead Boy” insulates listeners from the outside world, swaddling Beeef’s riffs in reassuring nostalgia.
“I wrote this song in the early days of the COVID quarantine,” Eaton tells Vanyaland. “I was one of the many people who found comfort in nostalgia during this time, and it kind of took me back to the simpler times of growing up. It’s about a time in life when imagination prevails and because of that you never really feel all that lonely — whether it’s being occupied by a tune in your head or obsessing over your favorite baseball player Nomar Garciaparra, you’re kind of just content with the simple company of your thoughts and dreams.”
Compared to the dregs of quarantine, “Bedhead Boy” captures a seemingly parallel universe where alone time is peaceful, rather than a painful and inevitable aspect of daily life. “I threw the tennis ball against the wall / ‘Cause it always came right back,” Eaton recalls on the second verse, a portrait of quiet solitude and content.
Later in the song, he circles back to the scene, singing “The tennis ball I used to toss / Is in some yard now gathering moss.” The simplicity of childhood is in the rearview — but thankfully, so is quarantining.
Tune in below.