Your comments are really interesting, bender. It's funny how things like our life experiences cause us to process things so differently. I don't get the sense of any time in the lyrics of The Boys of Summer. I never really thought about the song in terms of how long ago the relationship took place. And then, after I read your comments and thought about it in those terms, I came up with the opposite interpretation. It seems to me that it may have been a while since they split, but he can't move on even after all this time. Obviously, no right or wrong here - but, I thought it was funny how different my interpretation was from yours.
As far as Tom Petty turning the song down, I had heard that before. No disrepect to Tom, but all I can say is for us. I can't imagine that anyone could have done that song even close to as well as Don did it. JMHO