"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  2374
Date:  06/29/1985
Debut:  55
Peak:  5
Weeks:  17
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  This nostalgic track debuted just as Adams' first #1 hit, "Heaven," was spending its second week atop the chart. As the fourth single from the album Reckless, the hit would finally propel the LP to the #1 spot for two weeks in August. It would become Adams' fourth Pop Top 10 hit. Surprisingly, it did not do well on the Rock chart. It got some airplay late in '84, making it to #40, but other tracks from the album overshadowed the song and it wouldn't return to the chart even after being a Pop Top 10 hit.

ReduxReview:  This is not too far off from the nostalgia that took Springsteen's "Glory Days" into the Top 10 - oddly, both songs peaked at the same #5 spot. It's definitely one of the better songs from the album and it was a good one to have on when cruising around in the car. The tune is well written and lyrically hit all the right notes. It triggered memories of summers past for a lot of folks.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) There is a line in the song that states "Jimmy quit, Jody got married." Adams got the names from actual people he worked with. Jimmy was a drummer in one of Adams' early bands while Jody referred to Adams' sound manager, Jody Perpick. Perpick got married as the sessions for Reckless were happening. Perpick and his new bride appeared in the video for this song driving away in a car that was decked out in wedding decorations and had "just married" written on the trunk.  2) The track seems to be looking back on Adams' summer in 1969. However, Adams was only nine years old that year, so it certainly wasn't about his actual experiences. Adams has said in an interview that the song was mainly about summertime and that "69" wasn't a reference to the year, but a metaphor about making love. Co-writer Jim Vallance preferred to take the 1969 reference more literally and said he was inspired by Jackson Browne's song "Running on Empty," which has the line "in '69 I was 21."

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