Bryan Adams Summer of '69: Music megastar reveals timeless classic is named after something ruder than you think - and it isn't the year

Bryan Adams got his first real six-string guitar years after the summer of ’69 – and was more into love-making than recording the date.

The 65-year-old singer and songwriter is best known for his breakout 1985 hit ‘Summer of ’69’, released when he was aged 26, in which he sang about getting his “first real six-string” the same year as in the title of the song, from a “five and dime” shop.

He has now told the real story of how he got his first guitar during an appearance on the ‘I Never Thought It Would Happen’ podcast, hosted by Chris Difford from Squeeze. While the lyrics to his 1985 hit ‘Summer of ’69’ paint a picture of a simple purchase at a local discount store, Bryan admitted about how the reality was a lot different: “I told (my uncle) that I wanted to buy an electric guitar, and he took me down to the music shop in Reading and I still have that electric guitar. It’s an Italian thing… it’s an imitation Stratocaster.”

Bryan said the purchase came when he was visiting his uncle in Reading, England, when he was aged 12.In 1969, he would only have been aged 10.At the time, his family was frequently on the move due to his father’s diplomatic posting with the Canadian Embassy. They later lived for a year in Israel, where Bryan gave the guitar to a neighbour before returning to Canada and purchasing a replacement.

“I was like, ‘Ugh, why did I do that?’” he said. Years later, a surprise email offered the guitar back. Bryan said: “I got a random email from somebody saying, ‘Hey I have your guitar from 1970. Do you want it back?’ And I was like, ‘Whoa. Yeah, of course I want it back. Thank you.’”

The sender never followed up, and Bryan assumed the guitar was gone for good — until a chance encounter at a club in Berlin around a decade later. He said about bumping into the person with his guitar: “I said, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘I have the guitar from your childhood. Give me your address and I’ll send it to you.’

“I said, ‘Wait a minute, are you the guy who wrote to me back in ‘94?’ And he said ‘No, I’m his friend. He died in a plane crash and left it to me, and he told me he was going to give it to you and so it came back to me’.”

Bryan added: “It’s the stupidest story, but it’s what happened.”

Though the instrument has since been altered, Bryan hasn’t bothered to restore it. He said: “I tried playing it a few times, but I think it’s been modified in the neck… it’s just there. Just a piece of history.”

The song ‘Summer of ’69’, co-written with Jim Vallance, is not autobiographical for either musician. On his website, Jim previously stated his own first guitar was a Christmas gift in 1965.

Bryan has also acknowledged the track’s double meaning. In a 2008 interview with ‘The Early Show’, he said: “A lot of people think it’s about the year. But actually, it’s more about making love in the summertime. It’s using ‘69 as a sexual reference.”