Summer of '69

Day 32

--STATS--

Artist: Bryan Adams

Genre: Rock

Album: Reckless

Released: 1985

I got my first real six string.

I 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, Jody got married.

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

-yea, I'd always wanna be there.

Those were the best days of my life.

Aint no use in complainin'

when you got a job to do.

Spend my evenings down at the drive-in,

and that's where I met you- yeah!

Standin' on your mamas porch.

You told me that you'd wait forever.

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.

Oh...

Well, we were killin' time,

we were young and restless,

and needed to unwind.

I guess nothing can last forever-forever, no! Yeah!

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 wondering what went wrong.

Standin' on your mamas porch,

you told me it would 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 yeah, back in the summer of '69.

Uh-huh. It was the summer of '69.

Oh yeah, me and my baby in '69.

Oh.....

It was the summer, the summer, the summer of '69.

yeah....

I have never heard a bad thing about this song. Plus, there is no nudity or sexual contact in this video. I could watch this with my kids if I wanted! That's more than I can say about music now. The emphasis on this tune is simple fun, simple times, & first love. And taking a look back on it all. We all have a summer like that. Or in some cases, a few. My father introduced me to Bryan Adams when I was young. The best thing to come out of Canada, in my opinion. It's no coincidence this song came out in 1985 (the year of my birth.) It is my favorite of his. That & Please Forgive me. Of course everyone knows him for Everything I do ( I do it for you), but did you know he is also a well known photographer? Did you know he has won oodles of Juno awards & is set to receive a humanitarian award in Nufenland, Canada this year? True, true.

In 1997, I knew that I was born in the wrong decade. Bryan Adams was certainly going to be married off by the time I graduated high school, never mind he would have been forty-four when I turned eighteen...oh the logistics of it all. I could at least marvel in his music, and I did that year. 1997 is & probably will always be my favorite year growing up. I was in sixth grade & everything seemed picture perfect. Naturally, this was right before puberty hit. At the tender age of twelve, my friends & I enjoyed movies,music, books,candy,barbies,long walks, pizza...all the great things in life, really. On the weekends that I visited my Dad, I would often bring a friend. They were always amazed at the amount of freedom I had. My Dads most famous line was " Change is in the cup". Literally, there was a huge cup of change on the ledge by the door we could use to get all sorts of goodies out of the vending machines in the clubhouse. Or we could walk across the street & hit up the 7-11 if we wanted. It's no wonder I have such a sweet tooth, or that my Dad suffers from Diabetes. In the summer, we would enjoy the use of the pool there. All day til we were absolutely drained. I'm telling you, I had it made, & I know it. Back in the days of carefree innocence, before life became tainted with challenging experiences...before all that, there was Bryan Adams.

In the midst of hard times & changes, there was also Bryan Adams. I didn't have my own CD of his until 2004, when a song of his reminded me of my boyfriend ( my husband now.) We were going through a trying seperation & I bought the album So far so good for comfort. I have him & Shakira ( yeah, I know) to thank for getting me through those difficult times, & I am better for it. So please enjoy...summer of '69. Also note, that he obviously didn't write this song out of personal experience. He was only ten years old that year. Hmm...

p.s. Love the slightly raspy voice.