Bryan Adams<\/a> got his first real six-string guitar years after the summer of \u201969 \u2013\u00a0and it wasn’t from a cheap store.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Bryan Adams got his first real six-string guitar years after the summer of \u201969 \u2013\u00a0and it wasn’t from a cheap store<\/p>\n
The 65-year-old singer and songwriter is probably best known for his breakout 1985 hit \u2018Summer of \u201969\u2019, released when he was aged 26, in which he sang about getting his \u201cfirst real six-string\u201d the same year as in the title of the song, from a \u201cfive and dime\u201d shop.<\/p>\n
He has now told the real story of how he got his first guitar during an appearance on the \u2018I Never Thought It Would Happen\u2019 podcast, hosted by Chris Difford from Squeeze. <\/p>\n
While the lyrics to his 1985 hit \u2018Summer of \u201969\u2019 paint a picture of a simple purchase at a local discount store, Bryan admitted about how the reality was a lot different: \u201cI 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\u2019s an Italian thing\u2026 it\u2019s an imitation Stratocaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryan said the purchase came when he was visiting his uncle in Reading, England, when he was aged 12.<\/p>\n
\nIn 1969, he would only have been aged 10.<\/p>\n
\nAt the time, his family was frequently on the move due to his father\u2019s diplomatic posting with the Canadian Embassy. <\/p>\n
\nThey later lived for a year in Israel, where Bryan gave the guitar to a neighbour before returning to Canada and purchasing a replacement.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI was like, \u2018Ugh, why did I do that?\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\nYears later, a surprise email offered the guitar back. <\/p>\n
\nBryan said: \u201cI got a random email from somebody saying, \u2018Hey I have your guitar from 1970. Do you want it back?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Whoa. Yeah, of course I want it back. Thank you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe sender never followed up, and Bryan assumed the guitar was gone for good \u2014 until a chance encounter at a club in Berlin around a decade later.<\/p>\n
\nHe said about bumping into the person with his guitar: \u201cI said, \u2018What?\u2019 He goes, \u2018I have the guitar from your childhood. Give me your address and I\u2019ll send it to you.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\n\u201cI said, \u2018Wait a minute, are you the guy who wrote to me back in \u201894?\u2019 And he said \u2018No, I\u2019m 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\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nBryan added: \u201cIt\u2019s the stupidest story, but it\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThough the instrument has since been altered, Bryan hasn\u2019t bothered to restore it. <\/p>\n
\nHe said: \u201cI tried playing it a few times, but I think it\u2019s been modified in the neck\u2026 it\u2019s just there. Just a piece of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe song \u2018Summer of \u201969\u2019, co-written with Jim Vallance, is not autobiographical for either musician. <\/p>\n
\nOn his website, Jim previously stated his own first guitar was a Christmas gift in 1965.<\/p>\n
\nBryan has also acknowledged the track\u2019s double meaning. <\/p>\n
\nIn a 2008 interview with \u2018The Early Show\u2019, he said: \u201cA lot of people think it\u2019s about the year. But actually, it\u2019s more about making love in the summertime. It\u2019s using \u201869 as a sexual reference.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"16 April 2025 Bryan Adams got his first real six-string guitar years after the summer of \u201969 \u2013\u00a0and it wasn’t from a cheap store. Bryan Adams got his first real six-string guitar years after the summer of \u201969 \u2013\u00a0and it wasn’t from a cheap store The 65-year-old singer and songwriter is probably best known for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[129,11226,11227],"class_list":{"0":"post-162367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-bryan-adams","9":"tag-chris-difford","10":"tag-jim-vallance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}