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Summer of '69
"Summer of '69" is a song recorded by the Canadian singer Bryan Adams from his fourth album, Reckless. It is an up-tempo rock song about a dilemma between settling down or trying to become a rock star. The track was written by Adams and his longtime songwriting collaborator Jim Vallance. "Summer of '69" was produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain. "Summer of '69" was released in June 1985 under A&M Records as the fourth single from Reckless. According to later claims by Adams, the title is a reference to the sex position, not the year; Vallance disputes this assertion, however.
The song was released with two B-side tracks: "Kids Wanna Rock" and "The Best Was Yet to Come", which had previously appeared on the albums Reckless and Cuts Like a Knife respectively. "Summer of '69" received favourable reviews from music critics. The music video for the song, which was filmed by Steve Barron, features Adams and his backing band in a variety of settings, including running from the police. The single had a strong effect on music charts internationally; in the UK it was acclaimed as one of Adams's best, with its highest peaks being number four in the Netherlands and number five in the United States. Among songs recorded by Canadian artists, it is the most streamed and most digitally purchased song within Canada among songs originally released before the start of the digital download era (approximately 2005). It is also the most played song on Canadian radio among songs by Canadian artists originally released before 1990.
"Summer of '69" remains popular to this day in many countries around the world and is known as a quintessential summer song. Adams sang "Summer of '69" during the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony in Bangladesh. In 2019 Adams performed a duet version of "Summer of '69" with Taylor Swift during her Reputation Tour in Toronto, Canada.
After a tour supporting his album Cuts Like a Knife, Adams immediately started the recording sessions for the new album, Reckless. "Summer of '69" was finished on January 25, 1984, co-written with Jim Vallance in his basement studio. The song went through a number of changes because neither Adams nor Vallance was convinced it was a strong enough song to be featured on the album. In their first draft, the lyric "summer of '69" appeared only once. At that time the two were planning to title it "Best Days of My Life" instead. While the phrase "Best Days of My Life" appeared seven times in the first draft, on the final draft it had been replaced by "Summer of '69" and appeared only two times throughout the song.
The two had been inspired after listening to "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles which was a homage to John Lennon's childhood. They wanted to replicate the same feeling about childhood and living out the dream of becoming musicians. When writing the lyrics "Jimmy quit, Jody got married", Vallance suggested using "Woody quit and Gordy got married", referring to members of his Vanderhoof high school band The Tremolones (later known as 4Most), but Adams liked his version better. Adams mentioned once in an interview that "Jimmy" was one of his early drummers. "Jody" is a reference to Adams' sound manager, Jody Perpick, who got married during the album's recording session.
On the song's first demo, it started with a 12-string riff, just like the breakdown section in the middle of the song, but this was replaced with a chunky 6-string intro on the second demo. The song was recorded three to four times, in different ways, with both Adams and Vallance still not convinced that it was finished. "Summer of '69" is written in the key of D major. (With the bridge in F major)
When Adams appeared on The Early Show in 2008, he was asked about "Summer of '69" and its lyrical meaning. Adams said the song was not about the summer of 1969; rather, he stated that it was about having sex in the summertime, with "69" being a reference to the sexual position. Vallance, however, has said that the song's title makes reference to a year. He mentioned Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty", which contains references to 1965 and 1969, as having influenced his writing of the song, and recalls Adams citing the film Summer of '42 as having influenced his work. However, Vallance stated on the Song Facts message board that "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."
Cash Box said of the single that it "recalls the sound and arrangement of Springsteen with Adams' own streamlined sheen."
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Summer of '69
"Summer of '69" is a song recorded by the Canadian singer Bryan Adams from his fourth album, Reckless. It is an up-tempo rock song about a dilemma between settling down or trying to become a rock star. The track was written by Adams and his longtime songwriting collaborator Jim Vallance. "Summer of '69" was produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain. "Summer of '69" was released in June 1985 under A&M Records as the fourth single from Reckless. According to later claims by Adams, the title is a reference to the sex position, not the year; Vallance disputes this assertion, however.
The song was released with two B-side tracks: "Kids Wanna Rock" and "The Best Was Yet to Come", which had previously appeared on the albums Reckless and Cuts Like a Knife respectively. "Summer of '69" received favourable reviews from music critics. The music video for the song, which was filmed by Steve Barron, features Adams and his backing band in a variety of settings, including running from the police. The single had a strong effect on music charts internationally; in the UK it was acclaimed as one of Adams's best, with its highest peaks being number four in the Netherlands and number five in the United States. Among songs recorded by Canadian artists, it is the most streamed and most digitally purchased song within Canada among songs originally released before the start of the digital download era (approximately 2005). It is also the most played song on Canadian radio among songs by Canadian artists originally released before 1990.
"Summer of '69" remains popular to this day in many countries around the world and is known as a quintessential summer song. Adams sang "Summer of '69" during the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony in Bangladesh. In 2019 Adams performed a duet version of "Summer of '69" with Taylor Swift during her Reputation Tour in Toronto, Canada.
After a tour supporting his album Cuts Like a Knife, Adams immediately started the recording sessions for the new album, Reckless. "Summer of '69" was finished on January 25, 1984, co-written with Jim Vallance in his basement studio. The song went through a number of changes because neither Adams nor Vallance was convinced it was a strong enough song to be featured on the album. In their first draft, the lyric "summer of '69" appeared only once. At that time the two were planning to title it "Best Days of My Life" instead. While the phrase "Best Days of My Life" appeared seven times in the first draft, on the final draft it had been replaced by "Summer of '69" and appeared only two times throughout the song.
The two had been inspired after listening to "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles which was a homage to John Lennon's childhood. They wanted to replicate the same feeling about childhood and living out the dream of becoming musicians. When writing the lyrics "Jimmy quit, Jody got married", Vallance suggested using "Woody quit and Gordy got married", referring to members of his Vanderhoof high school band The Tremolones (later known as 4Most), but Adams liked his version better. Adams mentioned once in an interview that "Jimmy" was one of his early drummers. "Jody" is a reference to Adams' sound manager, Jody Perpick, who got married during the album's recording session.
On the song's first demo, it started with a 12-string riff, just like the breakdown section in the middle of the song, but this was replaced with a chunky 6-string intro on the second demo. The song was recorded three to four times, in different ways, with both Adams and Vallance still not convinced that it was finished. "Summer of '69" is written in the key of D major. (With the bridge in F major)
When Adams appeared on The Early Show in 2008, he was asked about "Summer of '69" and its lyrical meaning. Adams said the song was not about the summer of 1969; rather, he stated that it was about having sex in the summertime, with "69" being a reference to the sexual position. Vallance, however, has said that the song's title makes reference to a year. He mentioned Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty", which contains references to 1965 and 1969, as having influenced his writing of the song, and recalls Adams citing the film Summer of '42 as having influenced his work. However, Vallance stated on the Song Facts message board that "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."
Cash Box said of the single that it "recalls the sound and arrangement of Springsteen with Adams' own streamlined sheen."