I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it 'til my fingers bled

Was the summer of '69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit, Jody got married

I should've known, we'd never get far

Oh, when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

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 job to do

Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you, yeah

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait 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 '69, oh

Man, we were killin' time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

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 wrong

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 '69

Oh!

It was the summer of '69

Oh, yeah!

Me and my baby in '69

Oh!

It was the summer

The summer

The summer of '69

Yeah!