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 and 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 complaining
When you got a job to do
I spent my evenings down at the drive-in
And that's when I met you, yeah
Standing 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 killing time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothing can last forever
Forever, no
Yeah

And now the times are changing
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong
Standing 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, uh-huh
It was the summer of '69, oh, yeah
Me and my baby in '69, oh, oh
It was the summer, summer, summer of '69
(Yeah)