Bryan AdamsSummer of '69 Lyrics: I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it till 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 Julie got married
I shoulda known we'd never get far
Oh when I look back now
The summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Ya - 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
Spent my evenin's 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
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/cJ ] Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of '69
ohhh yeah the summer of 69
Man we were killin' time
We were young and reckless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last
forever - forever, no
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 it would last forever
Oh when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of '69
it was the summer
the summer of 69
ohhhh yeah
me and my band back in '69 Lyrics: Summer of '69, Bryan Adams [end]
See this song in a different language (automatic translation)
Bryan Adams Summer of '69 Lyrics Information:
SUMMER OF '692a2b
Written by: Bryan Adams & Jim Vallance
Produced by: Bryan Adams & Bob Clearmountain
Performed by: Bryan Adams 34
First released: 5
Single: June 15, 1985
Album: October 29, 1984
1 The concept of the five and dime, (aka: nickel and dime, five and ten or
dimestore,) a store where everything cost either five cents (a nickel) or
ten cents (a dime). The originator of the concept may be Woolworth's, which
began in 1878 in Watertown, New York and featured merchandise priced at only
five cents or ten cents. Inflation eventually dictated that the stores were
no longer able to sell items for five or ten cents, and were then referred
to as variety stores. "Variety store" may also refer to a convenience store,
especially in Canada, the Philippines, and in northern New England in the
United States.
2a "Summer of '69" is one of Bryan Adams' most recognizable and popular
songs. At the end of 1984, when the album, Reckless, was first released in
The United States, "Summer of '69" received some airplay on album-oriented,
rock radio stations but was mostly overshadowed by the songs, "Run to You"
and "It's Only Love," managing to reach only #40 on Billboard's Rock
Tracks chart. However, after it was released as a single in June 1985, it
climbed to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada "Summer of '69" reached
the Top Twenty on the Canadian Singles Chart and remained there for
another three weeks. In Australia, Europe and New Zealand "Summer of '69"
peaked outside the Top Forty. The song has appeared on all of Adams'
compilation albums. A music video was directed by Irish director Steve
Barron in 1985 and was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in one
category for Best Male Video. The video includes appearances by Lysette
Anthony and Michael Brandon.
2b In a 2008 interview with The Celebrity Cafe, Adams said, "I think
'Summer of '69'... is timeless because it's about making love in the
summertime. There is a slight misconception it's about a year, but it's not.
'69' has nothing to do about a year, it has to do with a sexual position...
At the end of the song the lyric says that it's me and my baby in a 69.
You'd have to be pretty thick in the ears if you couldn't get that lyric."
However, co-writer Jim Vallance's interpretation of the title is that it is
a reference to a year. He cites Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty," which
contains references to the years 1965 and 1969, as his own influence, and
recalls that at first Adams said the film Summer of '42 was his influence.
Vallance has said, "I wish this little controversy would just go away. First
of all, when Bryan and I were writing the song, it was originally called
"Best Days of My Life." The words "summer of '69" only appeared once, right
after "played it 'til my fingers bled." That was it! The song really was
about the summer of 1969! It took us a week or two to fine-tune the lyric.
At some point we realized that "Summer of '69" was a better title, so we
shoe-horned that phrase into a few more places in the song. At no time do I
recall discussing sexual innuendo with Bryan, except for one little thing.
When we recorded the demo in my basement, towards the end of the song Bryan
sang a little naughty bit: 'me and my baby in a '69.' We had a laugh about
it at the time, and Bryan decided to keep it when he did the final recording
a month or two later. Nobody seemed to notice, and that was the end of it
until a few years ago when Bryan started introducing the song in concert by
saying, 'This song has nothing to do with the year 1969.' The audience's
reaction was predictable. Let me qualify this by saying I don't pretend to
speak for Bryan. Two of us wrote the song. Maybe he was thinking about
something completely different...but I was thinking about that amazing
summer when I turned 17. There were brand new vinyl albums released by The
Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Kinks, Janis Joplin, The Band. It was
awesome and I'll never forget it. Bryan Adams is a great writer, a great
singer, and a great friend. He's entitled to his recollections as to what
inspired the song 'Summer of '69.' My recollections just happen to be
different than his."
3 Personnel performing on this recording:
* Bryan Adams (Rhythm guitar, vocals)
* Keith Scott (Lead guitar)
* Dave Taylor (Bass)
* Pat Steward (Drums)
4 Covered by:
Bowling for Soup
DJ Allstars
DJ Ötzi
Less than Jake
Mega-Mania
Mega Master
MxPx
The Soundstar Orchestra
Topmodelz
Tribute Allstarts
JimBo Whaley
et al.
5 Released on: *
SINGLE(s):
*(1)Bryan Adams:
A1 or Track 1: "Summer of '69" (Studio Version)
B1 or Track 2: "Summer of '69" (Live)
(a) A&M, 12-Inch, Vinyl, 33rpm Single, Promo Only, #SP-17325, US-1984.
(b) A&M, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo Only, #588319-2, Spain-1984.
(c) A&M, 12-Inch, Vinyl, 33rpm Single, Promo Only, #X14244, Australia-1984.
(d) A&M, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo Only, Custom Picture Sleeve, Special
Edition, #BACD-69, UK-1994.
(e) A&M, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo Only, #AM-1889, France-1994.
*(2)Bryan Adams:
A-side: "Summer of '69"
B-side: "The Best Was Yet to Come"
(a) A&M, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #AM-2739, US-1985.
(b) A&M, 7-Inch, Red Vinyl, 45rpm Single, #K-9779, US-1985.
*(3)Bryan Adams:
Track 1: Summer Of '69
Track 2: Kids Wanna Rock (Live)
Track 3: The Bryan Adamix: "Somebody"/"It's Only Love"/"Diana"/"Fits Ya
Good"
(a) A&M, 3-Track, 7-Inch, Vinyl, 45rpm Single, Promo, #AM-267, UK-1985.
(b) A&M, 3-Track, 12-Inch, 33rpm Maxi-Single, Picture Sleeve, #AMY-267,
UK-1985.
*(6)Bryan Adams:
A-side: "Do I Have to Say the Words?"
B-side: "Summer of'69"
(a) A&M, 3-Inch, CD Single, Promo, Snap-Pack, Picture Sleeve, #PODM-1006,
Japan-1992.
*(7)Bryan Adams (Recorded Live in Glasgow, Scotland):
Track 1: "Do I Have to Say the Words?"
Track 2: "Summer of '69"
Track 3: "Kids Wanna Rock"
(a) A&M, 3-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, #580068-2, Germany-1992.
*(8)Bryan Adams (Recorded Live in Glasgow, Scotland):
Track 1: "Do I Have to Say the Words?"
Track 2: "Summer of '69"
Track 3: "Kids Wanna Rock"
Track 4: "Can't Stop This Thing We Started"
(a) A&M, 4-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Fold-Out Picture Sleeve, #AMCDR-0068,
UK-1992.
*(9)Bryan Adams: Gira '94- 6 julio-Barcelona, 7 julio-San Sebastiàn, 8
julio-Madrid
Track 1: :Summer of '69" (Live)
(a) A&M, 1-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo, Edición Limitada, #BRYAND-2,
Spain-1994.
*(10)Bryan Adams:
Track 1: "Summer of '69" (Studio Version)
Track 2: "Summer of '69" (Live)
Track 3: "Run to You"
(a) A&M, 3-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo Only, #390024-2,
Netherlands-1994.
*(11)Bryan Adams:
Track 1: "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You" (Single Version)
Track 2: "Summer of '69"
Track 3: "Cuts Like a Knife"
Track 4: "Thought I'd Died & Gone to Heaven"
(a) A&M, 4-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Picture Sleeve, #581639-2, UK-1996.
*(12)Bryan Adams: Unplugged (Recorded Live in New York City, September
1997)
Track 1: "Back to You"
Track 2: "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You"
Track 3: "Summer of '69"
Track 4: "18 'Til I Die"
(a) A&M, 4-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Promo Only, Custom Picture Sleeve,
#588564-2, UK-1997.
*(13)Bryan Adams:
Track 1: "I'm Ready"
Track 2: "Cuts Like a Knife"
Track 3: "Summer of '69"
Track 4: "Heaven"
(a) A&M, 4-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Picture Sleeve, Digipack, #582537-2,
UK-1998.
EP(s):
*(EP1)Bryan Adams: Six Faces of Bryan Adams
Track A1: "Victim of Love"
Track A2: "Summer of '69"
Track A3: "Lonely Nights"
Track B1: "Run to You"
Track B2: "Heaven"
Track B3: "Straight From the Heart"
(a) A&M, 6-Track, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 33rpm EP, Alternate Picture Sleeve 2, #883702-0,
Germany-1987.
*(EP2)Bryan Adams:
Disc 1:
Track 1: "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You" (Live)
Track 2: "Hey Elvis"
Track 3: "I Want It All"
Track 4: "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You" (Remix)
Disc 2:
Track 1: "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You" (Single Version)
Track 2: "Summer of '69"
Track 3: "Cuts Like a Knife"
Track 4: "Thought I'd Died & Gone to Heaven"
(a) A&M, 4-Track, 5-Inch, Double CD Single Set, Picture Sleeve, #581639-2 &
581739-2, UK-1996.
*(EP3)Bryan Adams: Anthology
Track 1: "Heaven"
Track 2: "Summer Of '69"
Track 3: "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"
Track 4: "All For Love" (with Sting & Rod Stewart)
Track 5: "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman"
Track 6: "Here I Am"
(a) Universal, 6-Track, 5-Inch, CD Single, Radio & Reviewer Promo, Printed
Disc, White Notebook Cover, Printed Biography & Discography, Photos &
Calendar, #BA-1223, Taiwan-2005.
ALBUM(s):
*(a)Bryan Adams: Get Reckless
(1) A&M, 8-Track Cassette, In-Store Promo Only, Issued Before Official
Release of Reckless , Best of Reckless Plus, #PROMO, US-1983.
*(b)Various Artists: A Night in Heaven
(1) A&M, 10-Track, DVD, Movie Soundtrack, US-1983.
* The album(s) and record(s) listed here may have different versions of
the song than the one that was transcribed. Also, this list is not
intended to be the complete discography on which this song appears.
