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I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five and dime
Played it 'til my fingers bled
Was the summer of '69
Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I should've known we'd never get far
Oh, when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah, I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life
Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do
I spent my evenings down at the drive-in
And that's when I met you, yeah!
Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Oh, yeah
Back in the summer of '69, ohhh
Man, we were killin' time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothing can last forever
Forever, no
Yeahh
And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong
Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me that it'd last forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Oh, yeahh
Back in the summer of '69, uh-huhh
It was the summer of '69, oh, yeahh
Me and my baby in '69, ohh, ohh
It was the summer, summer, summer of '69
(Yeahh)
Genius - Bryan Adams Summer of 69
Who wrote the lyrics of the song "Summer of '69" was the singer Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, recorded by the singer together with Bob Clearmountain.
Released by A&M Records, it became the fourth single from his album “Reckless”, being considered an accelerated rock song.
"Reckless" in October 29, 1984
On The Early Show in 2008, Bryan Adams, after being questioned about the meaning of "Summer of '69" said that the song did not portray the summer of 1969, but rather about having sex in the summer (it should be noted, however, that he was born in 1959, i.e. he was only nine years old in the summer of 1969).
"69" is considered a sex position, however, there are doubts as to the veracity of this statement, not least because, on the Song Facts message board, Vallance stated that "When we recorded the demo in my basement, at the end of the song Bryan sang a little naughty: 'me and my baby in a '69'. We laughed about the time, and Bryan decided to keep it when he did the final recording a month or two later".
Jim Vallance thus states that it is only a reference to one year.
"Summer of '69" was the most digitally marketed and sold song in Canada, relative to songs by other Canadian artists, and the most played song on Canadian radio, compared to songs by other Canadian artists released before 1990.
The single reached the top 10 positions on international music charts: fourth in the Netherlands and fifth on the Billboard Hot 100. It was ranked seventh on the New Zealand Singles Chart; on the Norwegian Singles Chart it was positioned at number nine for four weeks.
In 1985, he won a BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for US radio airplay, in 1986 a Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian radio airplay, and in 2000 a Socan Classics Award for achieving 100,000 performances of Canadian radio.
Reviews by music critics for "Summer of '69" were all favorable.
Cash Box stated that the single "recalls Springsteen's sound and arrangement with the streamlined brilliance of Bryan Adams himself" and Blender said the song "made people, who haven't yet had a first love or a first band, nostalgic for the experience.".
In the music video for the song, shot by Steve Barron, it shows Bryan Adams with his band in different scenarios, such as running away from the police. The video also features Lysette Anthony and Garwin Sanford.
In 1985, the music video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the category of Best Male Video. Although the song did not win the award, it became one of the four nominated songs from the fourth album "Reckless".
References
(Youtube link) Bryan Adams - Summer of 69