Summer of '69
Recording Artist: Bryan Adams
Writers: Jim Vallance
Bryan Adams
Date Written: January 1984 / West Vancouver, Canada
Albums: Reckless (A&M Records, 1984)
Live Live Live (A&M Records, 1988)
So Far So Good (A&M Records, 1993)
Bryan Adams Unplugged (A&M Records, 1997)
The Best Of Me (A&M Records, 1999)
Anthology (A&M Records, 2005)
Icon (Universal, 2010)
Bare Bones (2010)
Reckless - 30th Anniversary Edition (November 2014)
Spotify Streams: More than one billion streams -- 1,367,695,637 as of February 2025
Charts: #5 - Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart / August 1985 (17 weeks on the chart)
#5 - Netherlands / 1990
#12 - The Record (Canada) / October 7, 1985 (17 weeks on the chart)
#40 - Billboard Top Rock Tracks Chart / 1984 (8 weeks on the chart)
#42 - UK Charts / August 1985 (7 weeks on the chart)
Awards: 1985 - BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for U.S. radio airplay
1986 - Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian radio airplay
2000 - Socan Classics Award for more than 100,000 Canadian radio performances
Audio:
 
Bryan Adams: rhythm guitar, vocals
Keith Scott: lead guitar
Dave Taylor: bass
Pat Steward: drums
Jim Vallance: percussion
 
Arranged by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams. Produced by Bob Clearmountain and Bryan Adams. Associate producer, Jim Vallance. Recorded by Bob Clearmountain, March/April 1984, at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain, September 1984, at the Power Station, New York.
Cover Versions:
Also recorded by Bowling For Soup, DJ Otzi, Emily's Toybox, Janet Theory, Jive Bunny, MxPx, Catherine Porter, John H featuring Barfalk, WC Experience
Comments:

To paraphrase the Jackson Brown song "Running On Empty":

In '69 I was 17

For me, 1969 was a memorable year, and a memorable summer. Among other things, I was in a pretty good band. It wasn't my first band -- that had been a few years earlier (see below) -- but in the summer of 1969 we took our music seriously, playing credible covers of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Cream and The Doors, to name a few.

We were a trio: me on drums, Alex (aka Bushy) on bass, and my best friend Howard on guitar.
Howard Froese
1953-1972
 
 

 

I was at Howard's house one day that summer -- July 20, 1969 to be exact. Along with Howard's mom we watched the moon landing "live" on their little B&W television.

Then in August we heard about this mammoth music festival in Bethel NY called "Woodstock". A film documentary would soon follow.

So if anyone asks about "Summer of '69", if they want to know what ithe song is really about, the answer is ... (wait for it) ... it's about the summer of 1969!
Of all the songs I've written or co-written, this is the one that most people seem to know.

Bryan Adams and I wrote "Summer of '69" in January 1984. Well, we started writing it then, but we didn't finish it right away. During the next month or two the song went through a number of musical and lyrical changes. It wasn't even called "Summer of '69" in the beginning, that was just a line of lyric in the first verse (see below).

It was very much a 50-50 collaboration, me and Bryan, just the two of us in my basement studio, bouncing ideas back and forth. We'd leave it for a week or two, then we'd go back and work on it some more, never sure if we'd got it right, or if it was strong enough to include on Bryan's "Reckless" album.

Bryan has his own thoughts on the song, but here's what I remember about my inspiration for "Summer Of '69", line by line ...
45 single sleeve / USA
I got my first real six string, bought it at the "Five and Dime"

When I was growing up in the 1950's and 60's there were shops called "Five and Dime" where you could (supposedly) buy anything for five or ten cents, which wasn't always true. Now they call them "Dollar Stores"! 

My first guitar was a gift from my parents, Christmas 1965 (I was thirteen). Bryan told me he bought his first guitar at a pawn shop in 1972, age twelve, although in a 2022 interview with David Mead of Guitarist magazine he said:

"I bought an imitation Les Paul at a Five and Dime store in Ottawa, Canada, in 1971. Before that, I had an imitation Strat which I bought in Reading, England in 1970."
45 single sleeve / UK
Played it 'til my fingers bled
Anyone who's played a guitar knows the strings can shred your fingers when you're first learning. I played my new guitar all Christmas day 1965, and continued until late that night. I remember my dad knocking on my bedroom door about one o'clock in the morning, saying "Go to sleep!", because I was keeping everyone awake.
It was the summer of '69
This is where the phrase "summer of '69" appears for the first time, line #4 of the first verse, nothing special or significant about it. 

It's worth noting: in our first draft of the song, the lyric "summer of '69" appeared only once, never to be repeated!  In fact, the song wasn't even called "Summer of '69" ... it was called "Best Days Of My Life", and it stayed that way for a few weeks, or maybe a few months?
  Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard
 

Bryan's first band ("Shock") played Top-40 songs in Vancouver nightclubs. Bryan was 16.

My first band, "The Tremelones", was formed in 1965 in Vanderhoof Canada. I was 13. The other fellows were a bit older, 16 or 17.

The photo (right) was taken at the Vanderhoof Community Centre, my first ever "paying" gig. I couldn't believe it, we actually got paid to play music ... $2.50 each, for the evening!

It was Wayne Deorksen and Gordy Keith on guitars and me on drums. Gordy's friend Dave Snell played bass with us for a while.  Dave ordered a Silvertone bass guitar and amplifier from the Sears catalogue, but never became fully proficient.
The Tremelones, April 1966. Front row, left to right - Bob Roberson, Wayne Deorksen, myself. Back row, left to right - Dave Snell, Gordon Keith.
 

We changed our name to The Fourmost when my neighbour Chuck Davies joined the band. Chuck was really old (twenty-one), plus he'd recently traveled to England, so he had instant credibility!

Chuck had an electric guitar with a silver sparkle finish and a Fender amp! None of us could sing, so we mostly played instrumentals by The Ventures and The Shadows. "Walk Don't Run", "Wipeout", "Perfidia" and "Apache" were some of our favourites.

Before joining The Tremelones I spent many lunch-hours in the school music room with Alan "Whitty" Whitmore. Whitty is the first musician I ever played with, and I have very fond memories of those mid-day "jam sessions".

Lacking a drum kit of my own, I'd pound on the school band's snare drum and cymbal while Whitty played his electric guitar through a small amp. 

When the music room was occupied, we would practice in the school library, which annoyed my French teacher, Mrs. Morrissey, whose classroom was directly across the hallway. 

Alan "Whitty" Whitmore, the first musician I ever played with.
In a futile attempt to enlist my parents and shut me down, Mrs. Morrissey put a less-than-helpful comment in my report card:  "Jim's mind is never on the job.  He can't just drum his life away".
  Can't blame her for trying, but to my parents' credit, it didn't work. I did drum my life away! Loudly!
 
Pat "Axe" Steward, drummer on "Summer of '69" >
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I remember going back and forth on this line with Bryan. I think I suggested "Chuck quit and Gordy got married" -- or maybe it was "Whitty quit and Gordy got married" -- but Bryan thought "Jimmy" and "Jody" sounded better, and I had to agree.

I'm not sure where Bryan got the name "Jimmy" -- we didn't discuss it at the time -- but in a recent interview he said it was a reference to one of his early drummers.

"Jody" refers to Bryan's sound-man and tour manager, Jody Perpik.  Jody got married around the time we were working on the song.

Jody and his wife appear in Bryan's video for "Summer Of '69", driving away with a "Just Married" sign on the back of their car.
I shoulda known we'd never get far
At this point in our "story" I suggested the lyric "I got a job at the railway yard", because that's what my band-mate Chuck had done ... he had a temporary job one summer, unloading 2x4's from box-cars at the Vanderhoof railway yard. Brutal, hard work. He earned $110 for the week -- a huge amount back then. He spent the entire $110 on a wrist-watch, saying he wanted something to show for all that hard work.

The "railway" lyric survived the first two-or-three drafts of the song, but in the end Bryan thought it sounded too much like something Bruce Springsteen would write and the idea was eventually scrapped.

Personally, I still prefer the "railway" lyric!
Oh, when I look back now that summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice I'd always want to be there
In 1969 there were brand new vinyl releases from Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Chicago, Cream, Creedence Clearwater, The Band, Santana, The Who, Joe Cocker, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Procol Harem, and Led Zeppelin -- and two new Beatle albums: Yellow Submarine and Abbey Road. How amazing is that?
Those were the best days of my life
As I mentioned, "Best Days Of My Life" was our original title. In our first draft of the song, the phrase "best days of my life" appears seven times, while the phrase "summer of '69" appears only once.

By the time we recorded the final demo of the song, "best days of my life" had been demoted, appearing only three times, while the phrase "summer of '69" appeared five times ... a much better title! More about this below.
Ain't no use in complainin' when you got a job to do
When we wrote this line, I was thinking about Chuck and his job at the railway yard.  Bryan was probably thinking about his stint as a dish-washer at the Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver.
Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in, and that's when I met you
There aren't many drive-ins left, and I wonder if kids these days even know what they are?

When I was growing up in the 1950s and '60s there were two kinds of drive-ins: (1). big outdoor movie screens, and ... (2). drive-in restaurants that served burgers and soda while you sat in your car, like in the film "American Graffiti".

Both types of drive-in are pretty much gone now, but I have fond memories of going to them as a kid. 
"Dog n Suds" Drive-In restaurant,
Terrace, British Columbia, Canada.
Winter 1968-69		 Chilliwack Drive-In Theatre
Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
Autumn 1954 (Norman Williams photo)
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 / Back in the summer of '69
Once we'd decided "Summer Of '69" was a better choice than "Best Days Of My Life", we had to find a way to reinforce our new title. The most obvious way was to repeat it a few more times ... so, we literally "shoe-horned" the phrase into some gaps in the song.
Man we were killin' time, we were young and restless, we needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last forever
At this point the song goes into an electric twelve-string guitar break, a nod to The Beatles ("Ticket To Ride"), The Byrds ("Tambourine Man"), The Searchers ("Needles And Pins") and We Five ("You Were On My Mind") -- some of my favourite music from the 1960's.
On our very first basement demo of "Summer of '69" we started the song with the 12-string riff, exactly like the "break down" section in the middle of the song ... however, on subsequent demo's we replaced the 12-string with a chunky 6-string intro.

In fact, we toiled over the musical arrangement for several weeks, maybe longer. We recorded the song three or four different ways in my basement studio, and we still weren't convinced we'd got it right! Bryan even considered dropping the song from the Reckless album, and I agreed. We didn't think it was ready.

Now, nearly 45 years later, when I hear "Summer of '69" on the radio I can't remember what we didn't like about it!?!
Lyrics:

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the "Five and Dime"
Played it 'til my fingers bled
It 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 shoulda known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now
That 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

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

Back in the summer of '69

Man we were killin' time
We were young and restless
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 ya wonder what went wrong

Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me it would last forever
Oh the way 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