I got my first real six-string Bought it at the five-and-dime Played it till my fingers bled It was the summer of '69 Me and some guys from school Had a band and we tried real hard Jimmy quit and Jody got married I shoulda known we'd never get far Oh when I look back now That summer seemed to last forever And if I had the choice Ya - I'd always wanna be there Those were the best days of my life Ain't no use in complainin' When you got a job to do Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in And that's when I met you 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 Back in the summer of '69 Man we were killin' time We were young and restless We needed to unwind I guess nothin' can last forever - forever, no 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 ya wonder what went wrong Standin' on your mama's porch You told me it would last forever Oh the way you held my hand I knew that it was now or never Those were the best days of my life It was the summer of '69 It was the summer of '69 Met my baby in '69 That's the whole story right there! It was the summer It was the summer Yeah, summer of '69