Preciscly What is "Summer of '69" About?
In the history of modern rock music, there have been many cases of misinterpreted songs. However, none have been anything so misinterpreted as the Bryan Adams 1985 smash hit, Summer of '69 of his fourth album, Reckless.
Why is this song so misinterpreted?
It is a knee-jerk reaction for many, myself included, to have thought that the song was about the summer of 1969. After all, years in the 20th century and beyond usually did not have the 19 or 20 prefix written out, using an apostrophe, and the last two digits of the year.(ex. '08 for 2008).
However, in a 2008 interview, Adams revealed that the song was about having sex in the summertime, a response to Bob Seger's 1975 hit, Night Moves. The number "69," refers to position 69 (where one's mouth is put on another one's genitals).
Who were Jimmy and Jody?!?!
Now this is a big one. In that same interview above, Adams said that Jimmy was the fictious name given to one of his early drummers, whereas Jody was a reference to Adams' sound engineer Jody Peperick who, (surprise!) got married during the making of Reckless in 1984.
A Song No One Expected to Become a Hit:
Adams and Jim Vallance (the latter of Prism fame) wrote the song in Vallance's basement studio altering the lyrics twice. The song's working title was Best Days of my LIfe, but it was changed in the final version. The song itself hit its highest position in the Netherlands coming in at number 4.
Despite this being Adams' signature song, it really is not about 1969. Remember that the next time someone tries to convince you...
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