Bryan Adams - Summer of '69 Lyrics Meaning click a star to vote Nov 27th, 2012 11:21pm report Some people speculate that Adams may be singing about, um, something else. Here's a hint, complete this sentence ... "Wine me, dine me, __ me." Still not getting it? Fine, some people think he may be singing about oral sex. Just what we like to think about when it comes to Bryan Adams. And as you'll notice in a few of the songs on this list, the dirty, double meaning that sounds like it was thought up by a horny 12-year-old often turns out to be true. In an online interview, Adams said: "One thing people never got was that the song isn't about the year 1969. It's about making love, a la '69!" A la '69? What a dork. Then there's the interview with the Binghampton Press & Sun Bulletin where Adams confirmed "the title comes from the idea of '69 as a metaphor for sex," confirming he has both a child's sense of humor and understanding of metaphors.

Anyway, coming from the source itself, that seems pretty convincing. Jim Vallance, the song's co-writer has said, "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." So who's telling the truth? As a default, we always choose not to believe the guy who claims Bryan Adams is a great writer. We're pretty sure Adams himself wouldn't even say that. There's also the fact that Adams didn't turn 10 until November of 1969, and we refuse to believe Bryan Adams was a cooler 9-year-old than us. Unfortunately, pretty much every single sign points to "Summer of '69" being another ill-fated attempt by Bryan Adams to be edgy, like that time he dressed like Kurt Cobain for a year or so back in the ' This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway click a star to vote Nov 18th, 2008 11:44am report I kinda think this song is open to interpretation a little bit.

The obvious use of '69 is for the year 1969, which was quite a year in history. The Summer of Love, Woodstock, the moon landing, it was a memorable summer for most everyone who lived it (I was not alive then). Now in my opinion, '69 could refer to other things. Maybe the storyteller is referring to a car that was a model year 1969 that they cruised around in all summer long, or maybe his guitar was a '69 Fender or something. There is the very real possibility that it does refer to sexual exploration. Either way, it is a reflection on happy times and youth. click a star to vote Aug 22nd, 2008 8:13pm report Haha wellll, I went to a Bryan Adams concert (he was AMAZZINGG) and he told this story there.... "well I saw this woman at walmart for the signing of the cds thing, and she said 'baby, I was a year early, I was summer of 68!

a year early!' and I said 'uh..lady, hate to put you down, but the song has nothing to do with the year.' she kinda looked at me funny and blushed,i just had to tell it, so for the record NO, there is nothing special about the summer of 1969, just 69. what a summer that was." he's really funny, it was a great show :) I Got My First Real Six-String - SongsIt I Got My First Real Six-String Search SongSit… Song: Summer of '69 (1985) Artist: Bryan Adams Album: Reckless Bryan Adams sang about getting his first real six string guitar, trying to start a band, contemplating forever with his teen-age girl-friend, and similar teen-age dreams in 1984 on his fourth studio album, Reckless . Now, the Canadian singer-songwriter is 56 years old, having been born in November of 1959. This answers one question about the song Summer of '69. It is fictional, at least in the sense that Adams would have been 10 years old in the year the song was written about.

This leaves room for some to imagine that "69" had another significance having to do with him and his girlfriend. You'll figure it out… 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 Didn't we all? Actually, whether or not Adams started an unsuccessful teenage band, in 1976, he did join an established band, the Vancouver, Canada based Sweeney Todd, at just age 15 He couldn't seem more different than the singer he replaced, Nick Gilder, who had left the band to start his own solo career in Los Angeles, scoring a smash-hit with Hot Child in the City . Summer of '69 was written by Bryan Adams and his long-time writing partner Jim Valance for the 1984 album Reckless. It was released as a single in June 1985 as the fourth single from the album, with two different B-side tracks, Kids Wanna Rock and The Best Was Yet to Come, and peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Also on the album were the classic Adams songs One Night Love Affair, Run to You, Heaven, Somebody, and It's Only Love, featuring Tina Turner. Just after Adam's finished touring for his album Cuts Like a Knife, he started recording Reckless and he and Jim Vallance wrote Summer of '69 in his basement studio, changing it several times thinking it wasn't a strong enough song for the album. The original idea was to call it Best Days of My Life, and in this first iteration, the lyric 'summer of '69' only appeared once in the song, with Best Days of My Live appearing seven times. In the end 'summer of '69' became the featured lyric and 'best days of my life' only appears twice. It went through a number of recordings, as well. Just after Adam's finished touring for his album Cuts Like a Knife, he started recording Reckless and he and Jim Vallance wrote Summer of '69 in his basement studio, changing it several times thinking it wasn't a strong enough song for the album.

The original idea was to call it Best Days of My Life, and in this first iteration, the lyric 'summer of '69' only appeared once in the song, with Best Days of My Live appearing seven times. In the end 'summer of '69' became the featured lyric and 'best days of my life' only appears twice. It went through a number of recordings, as well. The music video for the song was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the Best Male Video category. Three other songs from Reckless were also nominated. As for whether the song really is about the year, 1969, or the sexual position "69," Adams claimed on the The Early Show in 2008 that it was a song about sex and making love and making love in the summertime, and, yes, that the "69" part was about the position. He told In the Studio that the song was about nostaglia, citing the cultural revolution, the breakup of the The Beatles, his own discovery of music, the moon landing, and the character in the song playing his guitar "til his fingers bled," and about sexual discovery.

For myself, I doubt that the sexual position actually had a lot to do with the conception of the song at the time, and that Adam's later claim was meant to lend a little more grit to a song that would otherwise be nostalgic and innocent seeming, and to not disappoint fans who already imagined that the song may be all about sex. I'm not saying the sexual position never entered his mind, it's a bit hard to ignore, especially since the song is about about teenage love, nostalgia, and discovery. But the idea that the song has "nothing to do with the year" as is often claimed, seems a stretch. It is also hard to ignore that the original title of the song was intended to be "Best Days of My Life." Co-writer Jim Valance denies the sexual position claim, saying the song was indeed about the year, and that his own influence included Jackson Browne's Running on Empty which mentions the years 1965 and 1969. He also says that Adams cited the film Summer of '42 as an influence. The real truth is probably something in between. The song was about the year but of course the sexual position came into play.

Valance himself told the story of the frequently cited ad-lib at the end of the song, which he posted on the SongFacts message board, saying that at one point when the two were recording the demo in the Valance's basement, Adams ad-libed a "me and my baby in a 69." The two laughed it up and they included the line in the original recording. But Valance insists that the song was indeed about the year and the two never discussed the sexual innuendo. Adams makes a big deal of the line, saying you'd have to be dense not to understand it, but most lyrics list the ling "me and my baby in '69" not "in A 69." This is because the "a" is very hard to pick up and without the "a" the lyric could mean the year or the position. Once you've been informed it is there, it is easy to hear. But many people would be forgiven for missing the "a" when he sings. So, no need for insults, Bryan, you didn't even sing it that clearly.

If you wanted to believe it had nothing to do with the year at all, and was only about sex, you probably shouldn't have mentioned the moon-landing, the breakup of the Beatles (which happened in 1970) and the Cultural Revolution (although I'm not sure what that has to do with some teenagers starting a band, drive ins, and sex). It was when Adam's started introducing the song later in concerts by saying it had nothing to do with the year that the myth or not-myth got started. Songs that seem like they might be entirely about sex are like songs that seem like they might be entirely about drugs. When fans find out the actual origins of the song are much more mundane, they are disappointed. I imagine Adams knows this, but since he is not the only writer of the song, it may simultaneously be about both the year and about sex. Rock songs are simple affairs and it's easy to invent and re-invent their origins and interpretations, especially when you're trying to make them seem less boring. Teenage nostalgia and loss-of-innocence are not exactly the stuff of Rock legend, unless you do it right.

But, regardless of any controversy and whether or not the song was actually about the year 1969, it is a all-time favorite all over the world. Like all of Bryan Adam's songs, Summer of '69 is ever-green, always remaining popular and able to fit in with any era, and achievement many fans and songwriters alike may not recognize. It won a number of awards internationally including the BMI Citation of Achievement for US radio airplay in 1985, and has appeared on many "best of" song lists. What is a Five-and-Dime? Bryan Adams sings of buying his first six-string "at the five and dime." Some younger readers may wonder about this reference. Obviously, it's a type of store, but it's not a name we use to describe stores any more. If you think "dollar store" though, you pretty much have it, although the merchandise was even more varied and of a generally higher quality. Also known as Dime Stores, 5-and-10 Stores, or 10-Cent Stores they were stores like Woolworths or Kresge's, a feature of main streets in many towns throughout the U.S.

from as early as the beginning of the 1900's. This type of store, depending on its size, would sell a large variety of household items including cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc. but also candy, jewelry, sundries, stationery, books, magazines, and perhaps even clothing, toys, and even pets. They also often featured a lunch-counter and/or a soda fountain. It is entirely possible that someone may have been able to purchase a cheap guitar at the five-and-dime in the late 1960's. When the concept was first pioneered by the Woolworth Bros. in the later 1800's, it it possible that every item may have cost only five to ten cents, but by the 1950's, this was absolutely no the case, and like today's "dollar store" they they were "five-and-dimes" in name only, although the merchandise was still very cheap. The cheap prices were possible because of bulk purchasing, the same strategy that discount stores use today. There was no telling what a dime store might sell. If they could get a bargain on it, they'd offer it to customers for a bargain price.

Summer of '69 Official Video More Rock Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams Songfacts Songfacts In the Summer of '69, Bryan was 9 years old. He told us: "It's a very simple song about looking back on the summertime and making love. For me, the '69 was a metaphor for making love not about the year. I had someone in Spain ask me once why I wrote the first line 'I had my first real sex dream'... I had to laugh." (Check out our interview with Bryan Adams .) Adams wrote this with the songwriter Jim Vallance, who wrote several Aerosmith songs and often collaborated with Adams. On his website , Vallance explains that the song went through a number of changes, and it was originally called "Best Days Of My Life," with the line "Summer Of '69" appearing just once in the lyrics. Vallance feels that the Jackson Browne song " Running On Empty ," which contains the lyrics, "In '69 I was 21," was a subconscious influence on their writing, and that Adams may have been influenced by the movie Summer Of '42.

Adams had a few hits before this was released, his biggest being " Straight From The Heart ," but this song and the rest of the Reckless album made him a star. Vallance reflects: "Looking back, I think 'Summer Of '69' was Bryan and I at our best. We hadn't had any real 'success' yet... that would come when Reckless went to #1 on the charts and sold 12 million copies... but that was a year away. In January 1984 Bryan and I were still writing songs for all the right reasons, for the pure love and joy of it. We had nothing to prove, and even less to lose. We wrote songs to please ourselves.

Everything started to unravel after Reckless." According to Vallance, many of the lyrics were inspired by other songs: "I got my first real six string" - from Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero" and the line, "I bought a beat up six-string in a second-hand store." "Standin' on your mama's porch, you told me that you'd wait forever" - Bruce Springsteen's " Thunder Road " and the line, "The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays." "When you held my hand, I knew that it was now or never" - The Beatles " I Want To Hold Your Hand ." Both Adams and Vallance had bands in high school, which provided fodder for the lyrics about the band that broke up. In the line, "Jimmy quit, Jody got married," Jody was Jody Perpik, who was Adams' sound man. He got married around the time this song was coming together, and he appeared in the video with his wife - in a car with a "Just Married" sign.

Bryan always performs this at his concerts - he tends to start singing the first line, and then the audience takes over for the first chorus. This was included in the video Reckless, which includes six video clips of songs from the album. The same woman is featured in all the clips, sort of like a mini-movie over the six videos. >> Suggestion credit: Nicola - Christchurch, New Zealand Bowling For Soup did a cover of this on their album Lets Do It For Johnny!. It's very similar but sped up a bit. Other artists to cover the song include WC Experience, MxPx, Janet Theory and Jive Bunny. >> Suggestion credit: leigha - New York, NY In a 2009 survey for Brazilian rum Sagatiba, this was found to be the UK's favourite summer song of all time, narrowly beating Mungo Jerry's " In the Summertime ." Bryan Adams facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Bryan Adams Sources From rock n’ roll kid to activist to the voice behind film music, Bryan Adams has taken his career to many levels.

He said the title to his 1996 album, 18 ’Til I Die, reflected not only how he looked at his music, but how he looked at his life. Popular in his native Canada , Adams was often compared to Bruce Springsteen early in his career. His 1991 single (Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” first released on the Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves soundtrack, launched his popularity worldwide. Bryan Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario , Canada on November 5, 1959. His parents were English immigrants, and his father became a Canadian diplomat to the United Nations. By the time Adams was 12years old, he and his younger brother Bruce had lived in Israel and all over Europe . Moving from place to place as a child prepared him for touring as a singer/guitarist. “It made me accustomed to traveling” Adams told Ken Miller in Seventeen “My younger brother and I had a good time at the hotels, stealing the soap from the maids’ trays and all that. I was the influence there—we were quite mischievous.” Just like his father and grandfather, Bryan Adams attended strict British military schools.

However, true to the rock n’ roll rebel image, he grew his hair long, lambasted his teachers, and eventually got expelled. He also revolted against the strict rules his father set at home. At the age of 10, Adams got his first guitar, and from then on, music absorbed all of his attention. Two years later, Adams moved with his family to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. Soon after, his parents divorced, driving him further into reclusion with his music. Adams didn’t see his father again until after the release of his second album. Adams was preoccupied with his music throughout his teenage years, and was not distracted easily. “In high school, I was too far into my music to even pay attention to girls.” Adams told Steve Pond in Rolling Stone. “I’d run after the occasional girl, but music and rock n’ roll bands were far more interesting to me.” Not Too Young to Rock When Bryan Adams was 16 years old, he decided to quit school to put his time into his first job in rock n’ roll —guitarist for a Vancouver band called Shock. When the group couldn’t find a singer, Adams decided to attempt it himself, along with booking and managing the band.

But he still wasn’t old enough to hang out in bars, so he had to stay behind in the dressing rooms between sets. For the Record… Born Brian Guy Adams on November 5, 1959, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; son of Conrad (a diplomat) and Jane Adams. Began playing in rock bands at the age of 16; performed with Sweeney Todd, 1976–77; formed songwriting partnership with Jim Vallance, 1977; signed publishing contract with Rondor Publishing, 1980; signed record contract with A&M Records, 1981; released self-titled debut LP, 1981; donated music to various social and political causes, including Greenpeace, Special Olympics, and Amnesty International, 1985–90; composed music for soundtracks and gained worldwide recognition with (“Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” 1991; returned to rock beginnings with 18 ’Til I Die, 1996. Addresses: Record company —A&M Records, 1416 North La Brea, Los Angeles , CA 90028.

He moved on from band to band throughout his teens. In the summer of 1976, he went to see a pop band called Sweeney Todd in Surrey, British Columbia, just outside of Vancouver. At the end of the show, he found the band’s manager and proclaimed himself four times better than the group’s singer. The band decided to let him audition, and hired him to take over the front man’s spot. The following year, he left Sweeney Todd to pursue songwriting. “I’ve been in awe of singer-songwriters from the days of first hearing Paul Simon,” Adams told Larry LeBlanc in Canadian Composer. “I knew then that if I was serious about a career in music, I had to be a writer.” Adams meets Vallance One day in 1977, Bryan Adams went into a Vancouver music store called Long & McQuade, and there he met Jim Vallance. Vallance, former drummer of the Vancouver band Prism, was looking for a singer to perform his new material for a demo tape.

Adams and Vallance soon formed a songwriting partnership “I tried to be really tactful,” Vallance told Steve Pond in Rolling Stone, “but Bryan was an unruly young fellow, and the song ideas were just unstructured and undisciplined. So we pretty much scrapped anything he and I had been working on independently and started writing together” When Vallance and Adams completed their first song as partners, they got so excited that they stopped two strangers on the street to listen to the tape. By 1980, the partners had completed the songs for Vallance’s album Armageddon and had signed a songwriters’ contract with Rondor Publishing. They began writing songs for popular acts such as Loverboy, Bachman-Turner-Overdrive, KISS, and Bonnie Tyler. In 1981, A&M Records offered Adams a deal to record four songs for one dollar. He worked with Vallance on the EP, which included the single “Let Me Take You Dancing” By the time they finished recording, Adams had become the focal point.

“We first wanted to do a duo thing, but the more I worked with Jimmy, the more I realized he wanted to be the guy behind the scenes,” Adams explained to Christopher Connelly in Rolling Stone. “In the long run, that was good—and it was nice to get some credibility as a songwriter.” Still incredibly persistent, Adams convinced one of Canada’s top talent managers, Bruce Allen, to represent him. “He wore me down,” Allen recalled to William Deverell in Saturday Night “He was going to go though walls to make it.” Of course, Adams never had to resort to structural damage. In 1980, he released his first full-length LP on A&M Records, Bryan Adams. His first band featured guitarist Keith Scott, bassist Dave Taylor, and Vallance on drums. Rocked Straight to Top 10 Despite his determination to succeed, Bryan Adams had minimal success. When it came time to release his next album the following year, he wanted to call it Bryan Adams Hasn’t Heard of You, Either. Instead, he decided to title his second effort You Want It, You Got It, which was released on March 20, 1982.

Produced by Bob Clearmountain, the LP sold 500,000 copies worldwide and reached No. 118 on Billboard’s album chart. The single “Lonely Nights” climbed to No. 84. The increased success and help from Bruce Allen got Bryan Adams on concert bills with The Kinks, Foreigner, and Loverboy. In June of 1983, Bryan Adams became a hit. His third album, Cuts Like a Knife reached Billboard’s Top 10. It included the singles “Cuts Like a Knife” and “Straight from the Heart.” Later that same year, Adams recorded his first song for a film. “Heaven” appeared on the soundtrack for A Night in Heaven. Two years later, Adams continued his success streak with the album Reckless. The first single, “Run to You” made it to No. 6 on the U.S. charts and hit No. 1 in the U.K. Within the year, Reckless produced six Top 20 hits, sold seven million copies, and reached No. 1 in the U.S.

The LP included the hits “Summer of ’69” and “One Night Love Affair.” In June of 1985, pressure from radio stations forced A&M to release “Heaven” as a single, and it became Adams’s first single to sell more than a million copies. He also recorded a Top 20 hit duet with Tina Turner called “It’s Only Love.” Compositions for a Cause During that same year, Adams sparked his trend as a social and political activist. On July 13, he opened the U.S. tour of “Live Aid” at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . He went on to co-write Canada’s Northern Lights’ all-star recording “Tears Are Not Enough” with Jim Vallance and David Foster. The Canadian music community’s contribution to raise money to fight famine in Ethiopia raised $2.5 million. In 1986, Adams performed on the two-week Amnesty International tour, “A Conspiracy of Hope” The tour also included U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Lou Reed. As a follow-up, he contributed to the Rock for Amnesty album in 1987. In May of that year, he released his next album, Into the Fire.

He took a different direction from his adolescent anthems into themes such as war, repression, and unemployment. Although not a failure with sales of 1.5 million, Into the Fire dropped considerably compared to Adams’s previous success. “I had to make that record, and I’m not disappointed with it,” Adams later told Larry LeBlanc in Canadian Composer. “At the time, I didn’t want the same adulation or success as Reckless.” Despite his fame and increased financial wealth, Bryan Adams refused to get caught up in the frivolity of his rock star status. “When he played Madison Square Garden [in New York ] a few years ago, he took the subway to the show,” Bruce Allen told Steve Pond in Rolling Stone. “And when he got real big and we were still flying commercial, he’d catch a cab by himself, go to the airport, and buy his own ticket. That’s not usually done.” In December of 1987, Adams contributed the song “Run Rudolf Run” to the album A Very Special Christmas, which benefited the Special Olympics. In 1989, he performed on the Greenpeace album Rainbow Warriors, which was also released in the Soviet Union on the Melodia label.

By the end of 1989, Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance had severed their long-standing working relationship in the middle of recording Adams’s next effort. According to Adams, he didn’t approve of the songs they had done, and Vallance refused to start from scratch. Vallance attributed the separation to Adams’s attitude. “People don’t know Bryan; they just see the ’boy next door’ image, the kid with the infectious grin,” Vallance explained to William Deverell in Saturday Night. “There’s a darker side, though, and when that takes over.… Well, one morning I woke up and realized I’d had a knot in my stomach for months, and I knew it was time to pack it in.” New Partner, New Records Adams resumed writing and recording with a new partner, England-based producer Robert “Mutt” Lange. At the same time, he continued his charity contributions at the Roger Waters’s world-broadcast performance of “The Wall” at the Berlin Wall in Germany in 1990. The proceeds went to the Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief. During the same year, he received both the Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia awards.

The following year, Adams made a huge worldwide impact and landed in The Guinness Book of Records with one song. “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” which first appeared on the soundtrack for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Within the first three months, the single sold four million copies. It went on to sell eight million copies worldwide and soared to the top of the charts in 19 different countries. It broke the record for the most weeks in the number one slot on the U.K. charts. The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada named the tune the most performed song in the country. Adams included the single on his next album, Waking Up the Neighbours. He followed up the release with a 19-month tour that started in Mannheim, Germany. He went on to play in 25 different countries and sold 10 million copies worldwide. Adams won over audiences across the globe, even in non-English-speaking countries. “ Turkey was a bit of a shock,” manager Bruce Allen told Larry LeBlanc in Billboard. “It was the first foreign stadium show in Istanbul—July 28, 1992.

To see the audience sing every word, every single word, was unbelievable.” On January 16, 1994, Adams made his mark again as the first Western musician to perform in Vietnam since 1971. His much publicized Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) concert started out a little rough. Guards controlled the crowd with electric cattle prods and the only exit was locked during the show so no one could enter or leave. “For the first half of the show, everyone was glued to their seats,” Adams recalled to Melina Gerosa in Entertainment Weekly. “By the end, it was like a regular concert.” Evolved into Film Composer The 1990s also brought the film soundtrack phase of Bryan Adams’s career. In 1993, he recorded “All for Love,” with Rod Stewart and Sting, for The Three Musketeers soundtrack. Two years later, he contributed the hit “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” to the soundtrack for Don Juan DeMarco. And in 1996, his song “Star” appeared on the Jack soundtrack, and “I Finally Found Someone” (with Barbra Streisand) was released on The Mirror Has Two Faces soundtrack.

In an interview with Chris Willman from Entertainment Weekly, Adams didn’t shrink at the reference to his growing relationship with the movie industry. “I’m not afraid of being thought of as someone who is associated with film music,” said Adams. “If it’s a good song, what does it matter?” After five years, Bryan Adams made a comeback on the rock n’roll scene in 1996 with the album 18 ’Til I Die. Peter Castro described the album in People as “a mixture of juiced-up, guitar-giddy rockers and soft ballads, all of which feature Adams’s trademark rasp.” After exploring different musical topics, styles, and venues, Bryan Adams returned to his roots as a rock n’ roll rebel, and decided he didn’t want to grow up after all. Bryan Adams, A&M, 1980. You Want It, You Got It, A&M, 1982. Cuts Like A Knife, A&M, 1983. Reckless, A&M, 1985. Into the Fire, A&M, 1987. Waking Up the Neighbours, A&M, 1991.

So Far So Good, A&M, 1993. Live! Live! Live!, A&M, 1995. 18 ’Til I Die, A&M Records, 1996. Soundtracks; with others A Night in Heaven, 1983. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Morgan Creek Records, 1991. The Three Musketeers, Hollywood Records, 1993. Don Juan DeMarco, A&M, 1995. Jack, Warner Bros. Records, 1996. The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia, 1996. Compilations Born: Kingston, Ontario , 5 November 1959 Genre: Rock Best-selling album since 1990: Waking Up the Neighbours (1991) Hit songs since 1990: "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," "Please Forgive Me," "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" After entering the pop music scene in the early 1980s, Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams quickly gained notoriety with a catchy, easily definable mainstream rock sound.

However, that definition has gotten murky through the years, as his soft love ballads, some of which are movie soundtrack hits, have commercially triumphed. Early Years As far back as he can remember, Adams was interested in music, but this passion flew in the face of his dominating father's wishes. The father was a military man, later a diplomat to the United Nations, and the family lived all over the world. When Bryan's parents divorced, his mother, a schoolteacher, took him and his younger brother to settle in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adams quit high school at age sixteen and began performing and writing songs for a local rock group called Shock and another named Sweeney Todd, with which he cut two albums. Adams sought out the songwriter/producer Jim Vallance in 1980, and they began co-writing songs, some of which were recorded by the Canadian supergroups Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Loverboy as well as by Bonnie Tyler and KISS. The Making of a Superstar In 1981 Adams decided on a solo career and signed a now-famous contract with A&M Records in Toronto for the sum of one dollar.

His first release went nowhere, but his second, You Want It, You Got It (1981), sold well in Canada and made way for Cuts Like a Knife (1983). This album went platinum in the United States and introduced Adams's husky-voiced, passionate rock with agreeable hits like "This Time," "Straight from the Heart," and the title track, "Cuts Like a Knife." Adams followed with Reckless (1984), which soared to the top spot on the U.S. record charts. It features six major hit singles, including "Run to You," "Summer of '69," and a red-hot duet with singing legend Tina Turner, "It's Only Love." The handsome Adams seemed to have found a perfect balance with his pliable foot-stomping rock. He became one of rock's bona fide superstars. In 1991, after Adams and his band toured the world playing sold-out stadiums at every stop, he recorded a dulcet ballad by the veteran film composer Michael Kamen "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" for the soundtrack to the film Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner.

The song was a megahit and went number one immediately in the United States, Canada, and England , where Adams now lives. It sold over 8 million copies as a single. The song's success paved the way for Waking Up the Neighbours (1991), which contains "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" in addition to the bouncy hit "Can't Stop This Thing We Started." Waking Up the Neighbours sold almost 6 million copies in its first two months of issue. Adams continued to succeed with ballads and movie soundtracks, adding the gorgeous "Please Forgive Me," another chart topper, to a greatest hits album, So Far So Good (1993). The album sold 13 million copies worldwide. Later that year he recorded the song "All for Love" with his fellow superstars Rod Stewart and Sting for the film The Three Musketeers. The film was a flop but the song went to number one, as did "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?," which he recorded for the film Don Juan DeMarco (1995), starring Johnny Depp.

In the meantime, Adams continued to tour worldwide, developing a massive following in Europe and Asia in addition to the United States. Rock music success and all of its trappings has claimed its fair share of casualties, but seems to have had few adverse effects on Adams. By all accounts down-to-earth, Adams has used his celebrity to promote and raise money for an impressive list of personally favored humanitarian causes, including Live Aid, Net Aid, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, cancer research, environmental causes, Ethiopian famine, and freedom for Nelson Mandela. He is a devout vegetarian, an avid equestrian, and has never been married. Adams has a strong passion for photography and has snapped shots in privileged photo sessions with such luminaries as the queen of England and Paul McCartney. His work has appeared in galleries, books, and magazines worldwide. Placated by live and compilation albums, fans had to wait five years for Adams to follow-up the colossal Waking Up the Neighbours. In 1996 he released 18 'til I Die (1996). The album used the same formula as Neighbours by adding an already-released soundtrack hit.

This time it was "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" Adams's fans were beginning to split down the middle. One side longed for the raw rock of his earlier days, the other for Adams's recent ballads; most of Adams's later work is saddled with the challenge of satisfying both camps. The following year he answered with a collection of songs, including some of his heaviest rockers, in a live acoustic set on MTV as part of its Unplugged series. Accolades and Staying Power Adams has sold more than 50 million albums throughout a career that shows no sign of slowing down. He has been showered with awards, including sixteen wins out of twenty-four Juno nominations (the Canadian version of a Grammy), and three Grammy Awards out of thirteen nominations. He has also won two MTV Music Awards and had three Academy Award nominations for soundtrack songs. In 2002 he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the song "Here I Am" from the soundtrack to Dream Works's animated epic, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. He also released an album of the film's music under the same title.

The ballad-heavy recording features a duet with fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan on "Don't Let Go." The album as a whole displays Adams's songwriting growth and his innate ability to infuse his songs with satisfying hooks. "Get Off My Back," from Spirit, was one return on the album to his rock sound. He toured most of 2002 with the bare-bones trio of Keith Scott on guitar, Mickey Curry on drums, and Adams on bass guitar, a departure from his usual role as rhythm guitarist. The pride of Canada, Bryan Adams has earned a top spot in contemporary music with relentless touring and an ability to appeal consistently to a mainstream audience.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY: Bryan Adams (A&M Records, 1980); You Want It, You Got It (A&M Records, 1981); Cuts Like a Knife (A&M Records, 1983); Reckless (A&M Records, 1984); Into the Fire (A&M Records, 1987); Waking Up the Neighbours (A&M Records, 1991); So Far So Good (A&M Records, 1993); So Far So Live (Alex Records, 1994); 18 'til I Die (A&M Records, 1996); MTV Unplugged (A&M Records, 1997); On a Day Like Today (A&M Records, 1998); Greatest Hits (A&M Records, 1999); The Best of Me (Polygram Records, 2001); Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Universal Records, 2002). BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Adams, Bryan Adams: The Official Biography (Toronto, 1995).

donald lowe Sources Bryan Adams “is arguably Canada ’s brightest male star,” declared Nicholas Jennings in Maclean’s. His 1985 album Reckless has sold more than ten million copies—impressive by any standard—but, as Jennings pointed out, Adams has enjoyed wider distribution “than any Canadian in history.” He owes this distinction primarily to straightforward rock anthems like “Kids Wanna Rock” and ballads like “Heaven.” Though some critics have dismissed Adams as a lesser version of rocker Bruce Springsteen, lacking the substance that the latter infuses into his songs, others have praised Adams’s simplicity. “His music is about guys and girls. They’re melodies that stick in your head,” explained Pat Steward, Adams’s drummer, to Jane O’Hara in another Maclean’s article. Adams was born on November 5, 1959, in Kingston, Ontario , Canada. His parents were former British citizens, and his father, Conrad Adams, came from a military family. This background, coupled with the fact that Conrad Adams served in the Canadian diplomatic corps, meant a childhood of moving from place to place for Bryan. He attended strict military schools in several countries, including England , Austria , Portugal , and Israel.

Adams recalled for Steve Pond in Rolling Stone that “the discipline that they taught me in school was good, because I was able to focus on things—but I didn’t realize that at the time. So I got sent to the headmaster a lot.” When he turned sixteen, however, his parents separated, and he lived with his mother, Jane, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adams’s early musical development is echoed, if not narrated, in the lyrics of his 1985 hit “Summer of’69” : “I got my first real six-string/Bought it at the five-and-dime/Played it till my fingers bled/It was the summer of ’69,” as Pond quoted it. Though Adams was only ten at the time the song mentions, a year or two later, according to Pond, he did buy his first guitar and start learning to play it. As an adolescent, he pursued his rock goals with single-minded fervor. He explained to Pond: “In high school, I was too far into my music to even pay attention to girls.” At the age of sixteen Adams quit school and used the money his parents had saved for his higher education to buy a grand piano.

He joined bands and played in nightclubs, supplementing his income by washing dishes, selling pet food, and working in record stores. “One summer night in 1976,” Jennings related, “after hearing a local rock band perform in Surrey, B[ritish] C[olumbia], …Adams…strode boldly up to the group’s producer and announced that he could sing better than its vocalist. He got an audition—and the job.” Not long after that, Adams met up with Jim Vallance, who had formerly written songs for the Canadian rock group Prism. As For the Record… Full name, Bryan Guy Adams; born November 5, 1959, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; son of Conrad (a diplomat) and Jane Adams. Songwriter, with Jim Vallance, 1977—; recording artist, 1979—. Has performed in various charity concerts for organizations including Live Aid, Amnesty International, and the Prince’s Trust. Addresses: Office-c/o 406-68 Water St., #406, Vancouver, British Columbia, R2H 2M2, Canada.

O’Hara phrased it, “Vallance was looking for a singer, Adams was looking for a route to musical respectability, and the two hit it off immediately.” The pair began writing songs together and recording demonstration tapes. Adams had a mild hit in 1979 with one of their products, the disco-styled “Let Me Take You Dancing,” and they managed to sell some of their other creations to recording artists such as Joe Cocker, Juice Newton, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Adams and Vallance also won first a publishing contract and then a recording contract with A & M Records. But Adams’s first solo album, Bryan Adams, was unsuccessful. O’Hara explained: “On it his voice is high-pitched and the songs predictable.” He wanted, according to O’Hara, to call his next effort “Bryan Adams Hasn’t Heard of You Either,” but settled for You Want It, You Got It. The album was a moderate success, selling five hundred thousand copies and earning Adams the privilege of opening concerts for rock bands like the Kinks, Loverboy, and Foreigner.

However, it was Adams’s third, Cuts Like a Knife, which pushed him to the level of rock stardom. The title song was a huge hit; the accompanying music video, involving a scantily clad woman and a gleaming knife, was considered controversial and attracted even more attention to Adams and his record. His 1985 release, Reckless, was even more popular, including the hits “Heaven” and “The Summer of ’69.” Though he was selling records at a phenomenal rate and was a huge concert draw, Adams’s songwriting had not gained the favor of most rock-music critics.

O’Hara quoted a Rolling Stone reviewer: “Adams has typically produced the closest thing yet to generic rock ’n’ roll, long on formal excellence but short on originality.” Perhaps conceding a lack of depth in his many songs about painful love relationships, Adams told Pond that during one concert performance he thought, “‘Man, I gotta sink my teeth into something else.’ ‘Cause I … had this desire to write something more interesting for myself.” One of the results of this thought was the song Adams recorded to earn money for famine relief in Ethiopia , “Tears Are Not Enough.” Another was his 1987 album Into the Fire. The disc includes a protest song about Native American land rights called “Native Son” and a contemplative number about a veteran of World War I titled “Remembrance Day.” Still, despite refusing to allow the use of another song from Into the Fire, “Only the Strong Survive,” in the film Top Gun because he felt the movie glorified war, Adams handles his newfound political principles gingerly. “I don’t like politics being rammed down people’s throats,” he confessed to Jennings.

“But there’s a sensitive way of bringing up issues and making people think.” Bryan Adams - Summer Of '69 Lyrics | LyricsHall 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, 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 Yeah - 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 It was the summer of '69 Me and my baby in a '69...

Song facts "Summer of '69" is a song recorded by Canadian recording artist Bryan Adams, from his fourth studio album, Reckless (1984). The song was written by Adams and Jim Vallance, a long-time writing partner of Adams. "Summer of '69" was produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain. It was released in June 1985 under A&M Records as the fourth single from Reckless. As with most Adams songs, "Summer of '69" is an up-tempo rock song. According to Adams, the number 69 is used in reference to sex, and not the year 1969; his co-writer Jim Vallance disagrees, however, claiming that it has nothing to do with the sex position. The song was released with two B-side tracks; "Kids Wanna Rock" and "The Best Was Yet to Come". "Summer of '69" received favourable reviews from music critics. Barry Webber from All Music was favourable towards the song, even when he admitted that the lyrics contained many clichés, but it was these clichés as he put it that made Adams famous.

He wrote: "After all, the silliness of the single is what gives it the desired naïve charm, relating to the cliché 'age of innocence'." It was described as an "anthemic rocker" by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. An unnamed writer of The Miami Herald felt the song reminded him/her of the musical talents of John Mellencamp and Bob Seger. The New York Daily News writer Jim Farber wrote: "Of course, we're talking Bryan Adams here the only person on Earth who could write a song titled 'Summer of '69' that has nothing to do with political protests or social upheaval, but instead simply recalls a fun day Adams spent throwing dirtballs at his friends. His conclusion was that since Adams knew his place in the world, something he felt many other artists didn't, he made it easier for himself to write good songs. This he felt was proven on the album 18 til I Die, but also "Summer of '69". Nada Lakovski of Chart magazine described it as "A most wonderful, straightforward and unpretentious rock 'n' roll pop song".

Adams, later in an interview, when talking of the song's success said: "That song is 25 years old now so it's had that many years to incubate. A lot of songs, like that one, hit big in America but really not anywhere else. It didn't chart anywhere in Europe until at least 10 years after it was released. [...] I think songs can have a life of their own regardless of the promotion." In 1985 the song won the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for US radio airplay, the following year 1986 - Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian radio airplay and in 2000 it won a Socan Classics Award for more than 100,000 Canadian radio performances. In a poll conducted by Decima Research in 2006, "Summer of '69" was voted the best driving song among Canadians who sing in their cars. The song topped the survey with both sexes, and with French and English-speaking Canadians. In 2010, the song was voted the "hottest summer song" in Germany.

In another poll, this time by now defunct Canadian magazine Chart, "Summer of '69" was voted the fourth best song of all-time in 2000, four years earlier it had been voted the twenty-fourth best song of all-time. The song was ranked #17 on CBC Radio's 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. In 2008, the song was voted the 87th best-song of all-time by radio listeners in Norway, becoming the second highest Adams song ranked, the highest being "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" from 1991. It was voted the fifth best-song ever on Radio 2, a Belgian radio station, in 2008. "Summer of '69" was released as a single internationally in June 1985 and charted on the Billboard Hot 100 where it peaked at 5. Like the previous single released from Reckless, "Heaven", "Summer of '69" was a commercial success worldwide.

"Summer of '69" debuted at number fifty-nine, and managed to climb up the chart, and two weeks later reached its peak position 42, on August 24, 1985, on the UK Singles Chart. The single remained on the country's chart for four consecutive weeks from August to September 1985, before falling out of the top 100. The track debuted at number twenty-two on September 22, and peaked at number seven in the fifth week on the New Zealand Singles Chart. The song debuted at 95 on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart on June 29, 1985, jumping to fifty in its second week and peaking at eleven on September 14, 1985 after spending seven weeks on the chart. The song debuted at its peak position, number 9, on August 10, on the Norwegian Singles Chart and stayed there for another four weeks before falling of the charts. "Summer of '69" charted on the Swedish Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks. Having debuted at number twenty on December 13, and peaked at number thirteen two weeks later.

The single spent another three weeks on the chart before falling off. The track peaked at number 17 on the Austrian Singles Chart, and remained on the country's chart for five weeks. The single's most commercially successful charting territory was the Netherlands, were it peaked at number 4 on September 22, 1990. The single's least successful chart territory was Germany. Having peaked on the country's singles chart at number 62, the single spent the next five weeks fluctuating down the chart. The track was promoted with a music video, which was filmed by Irish director Steve Barron in 1985. The video features Adams and his backing band in a variety of settings, including running from the police. In 1985 it was nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards in one category for Best Male Video. While the song did not win the award, it was one of four nominated songs from Adams' fourth studio album Reckless. The video includes appearances by Lysette Anthony and Michael Brandon.

The 10 Most Often Butchered Song Lyrics | Mental Floss The 10 Most Often Butchered Song Lyrics Wikimedia Commons/Bryan Dugan Like us on Facebook Don’t believe everything you hear. Particularly if it’s set to music and coming out of the mouth of one of your favorite musicians. We’ve all been guilty of mishearing—and then repeating—a song lyric on occasion. In fact, it’s so prevalent a problem that there’s actually a word for it: mondegreen, a term coined by writer Sylvia Wright in a 1954 essay, in which she recounted her misunderstanding of the line “and laid him on the green” from “The Bonnie Earl O’Murray” as “Lady Mondegreen.” So here’s a friendly heads-up on the song lyrics that get butchered most often. 1. “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix Misheard Lyric: “‘Scuse me, while I kiss this guy.” Actual Lyric: “‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky.” Jimi himself was known to have some fun with what is probably the most widely known mondegreen, often singing the incorrect lyrics on stage—occasionally even accompanied by a mock make-out session .

There’s even a Website, KissThisGuy.com, dedicated to collecting user-generated stories of misheard lyrics. 2. “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John Misheard Lyric: “Hold me closer, Tony Danza.” Actual Lyric: “Hold me closer, tiny dancer.” In the premiere episode of Friends’ third season, Phoebe Buffay stated what millions of others had also believed when she claimed that the most romantic song ever was “the one that Elton John wrote for that guy on Who’s The Boss… ‘Hold me close, young Tony Danza.’” Typically the line is heard as “Hold me closer, Tony Danza…” so we may need Angela to sort this one out. 3. “Blinded by the Light” by Manfred Mann Misheard Lyric: “Wrapped up like a douche, another rumor in the night.” Actual Lyric: “Revved up like a Deuce, another runner in the night.” It’s difficult to hear this classic rock tune and not imagine the feminine product aisle at Walgreens. In 1993, the first sketch in Canadian comedy group The Vacant Lot’s television series explored the many incorrect renditions of this lyric that exist. 4.

“Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams Misheard Lyric: “I got my first real sex dream...” Actual Lyric: “I got my first real six-string…” Bryan Adams’ 1984 ode to teenage-dom took on an unintended carnal tone when many listeners misheard the opening lyric, which sounded even more bizarre when considered with the content that followed: Bought it at the five-and-dime Played it 'til my fingers bled It was the summer of '69. 5. “Message in a Bottle” by The Police Misheard Lyric: “A year has passed since I broke my nose.” Actual Lyric: “A year has passed since I wrote my note.” In 2008, hearing aid manufacturer Amplifon polled more than 2000 music fans to determine the most often misheard lyrics. Sting’s former band topped the mondegreen chart with two songs; though “Message in a Bottle” made the top 10, the number one song was “When The World is Running Down,” in which "you make the best of what's still around" is understood as "you make the best homemade stew around.” 6.

“The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” by R.E.M. Misheard Lyric: “Calling Jamaica.” Actual Lyric: “Call me when you try to wake her.” In 2010, the folks at Cerumol Olive Oil Ear Drops conducted their own poll in Britain, which determined that four out of every 10 people have misunderstood the lyrics to a popular song . The main culprit? This ditty from Michael Stipe and his cronies, released on the band’s 1992 album, Automatic for the People. The most unexplainable part might be the three-syllable difference between the real lyrics and the song as it’s popularly heard. 7. “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi Misheard Lyric: “It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not.” Actual Lyric: “It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not.” Considering the limited amount of clothing that adorned Bon Jovi’s female fans in 1986, when this song was released as the second single from the New Jersey natives’ Slippery When Wet album, the altered line seems somewhat appropriate. 8.

“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” by The Beatles Misheard Lyric: “The girl with colitis goes by.” Actual Lyric: “The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.” The Fab Four were certainly known to get a little psychedelic on occasion. (Witness: I am the walrus… goo goo g'joob!) Few songs reflect their penchant for writing under the influence of drugs better than this song, the title itself a mnemonic for their drug of choice. Though John Lennon claimed the song was inspired by a picture drawn by his son, Julian, Paul McCartney admitted in a 2004 interview with Uncut that it was indeed about drugs. But even a hallucinogen doesn’t explain why poor Lucy’s colon would be inflamed . 9. “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival Misheard Lyric: “There’s a bathroom on the right.” Actual Lyric: “There’s a bad moon on the rise.” Like Jimi Hendrix before him, CCR frontman John Fogerty has played along with this lyrical misunderstanding. On stage, he often delivers the line as if he were giving directions to the lavatory, complete with hand gestures. 10.

“Like a Virgin” by Madonna Misheard Lyric: “Like a virgin, touched for the thirty-first time.” Actual Lyric: “Like a virgin, touched for the very first time.” Madonna’s ever-present “Boy Toy” belt buckle probably didn’t do much to help dispel this misheard—and rather laughable—lyric in the artist’s first number-one hit. More from mental_floss... 1000+ images about Bryan Adams on Pinterest | Dark denim, Heavens and Stamps Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Bryan Adams My favorite singer in the whole wide world! My 16th birthday present was tickets to see him in concert. Best day ever! 45 Pins236 Followers

Question: In 1984, who had a hit single snging about how he "got my first real six-string, bought it at the five-and-dime, played 'til my fingers bled. It was summer of '69"?
Answer: Bryan Adams