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.

Also recorded by Bowling For Soup, DJ Otzi, Emily's Toybox, Janet Theory, Jive Bunny, MxPx, Catherine Porter, John H featuring Barfalk, WC Experience

Bryan Adams and I wrote "Summer Of '69" in my basement studio in January 1984 (it was originally titled "Best Days Of My Life). During the next month or two the song went through a number of musical and lyrical changes - and we still weren't convinced it was strong enough to include on Bryan's "Reckless" album.

It was very much a 50-50 collaboration, the two of us bouncing musical and lyrical ideas back and forth.

I'm sure Bryan has his own memories about the back-story, but here's what I remember about the inspiration for "Summer Of '69", line by line ...

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"! 

Despite what the lyric says, 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 Bryan 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. 

Anyone who's ever played a guitar knows the strings can be brutal on 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.

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.  In fact, in our first draft of the song the lyric "summer of '69" appears only once, never to be repeated.  It wasn't the title, it was just another line in the song. As noted above, we originally planned on calling the song "Best Days Of My Life".

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

My first band, "The Tremelones", was formed in 1965 with some school-mates. I was 13 and the other fellows were a bit older, 16 or 17.

Wayne Deorksen and Gordy Keith played guitar and I played drums. Gordy's friend Dave Snell played bass with us for a while.  To join the band, Dave ordered a Silvertone bass guitar and amplifier from the Sears catalogue.

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 travelled to England, so he had instant credibility!

Chuck had an electric guitar with a silver sparkle finish -- a marvelous thing to behold -- 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 most 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, Whitty and I would practice during lunch-hour in the school library, which annoyed my French teacher, Mrs. Morrissey, whose classroom was directly across the hallway. 

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 it didn't work. I did drum my life away ... and 60 years later here I am, still playing the drums! Daily! Loudly!

I remember going back and forth on this line with Bryan. I think I suggested "Chuck quit and Gordy got married", like the guys in my school band, 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

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 two-week 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.

But I digress.

The "railway" lyric survived the first two-or-three drafts of the song, but it was eventually scrapped (Bryan thought it sounded too much like something Bruce Springteen would write).

Personally, I still prefer the "railway" lyric!

1969 was a great year, and a great summer ... especially the music!

Imagine ... brand new vinyl releases from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Chicago, Cream, Creedence Clearwater, The Band, Santana, The Who, Joe Cocker, and Led Zeppelin! Not to mention Woodstock!!

As I mentioned, "Best Days Of My Life" was originally going to be our title. In fact, 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" appears five times ... a deliberate change of emphasis.

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".

They're pretty much gone now, but I have fond memories of going to both kinds of drive-ins 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)

Once we'd decided "Summer Of '69" was better 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. Initially I was concerned it sounded forced -- but it seems to have stood the test of time!

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 ... but 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, and we still weren't convinced we had it right! Bryan even considered dropping the song from the Reckless album, and I agreed.

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!?!