Lyrics

I got my first   six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'til my fingers  
Was the   of sixty-nine

Me and some guys from  
Had a   and we tried real  
Jimmy quit, Jody got  
I should've known we'd never get  

Oh, when I look   now
That summer seemed to   forever
And if I had the  
Yeah, I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'
When you've got a   to do
Spent my   down at the drive-in
And that's when I   you, yeah

Standin' on your mama's  
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh, and when you   my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

Oh, yeah
Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh

Man, we were killin' time,
we were young and  
We needed to  
I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no

Yeah

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 you, wonder what went  

Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me that it'd last forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

Oh, yeah
Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh
It was the summer of sixty-nine, oh, yeah
Me and my baby in sixty-nine, oh
It was the summer, the summer,
the summer of sixty-nine, yeah
Legend

Meaning

I think [“Summer of ’69” is] timeless because it’s about making love in the summertime. There is a slight misconception it’s about a year, but it’s not. “69” has nothing to do about a year, it has to do with a sexual position…At the end of the song, the lyric says that it’s me and my baby in a 69. You’d have to be pretty thick in the ears if you couldn’t get that lyric.

Vocabulary

five and dime

A store that sells many different small items at low prices, such as things for your home

Drive-in

Denoting a facility such as a cinema or restaurant that one can visit without leaving one's car

unwind

relax

restless

Unwilling or unable to stay still or to be quiet and calm, because you are worried or bored:

Guess

To suppose