Bryan Adams says Taylor Swift was the only person who ever did “Summer of ’69” justice when the two sang it together, offering a new coda to one of rock’s most durable singles. In a 2025 interview with Guitar World, Adams said he sang harmony with Swift after she invited him to perform with her, and that they needed only one rehearsal.
“Well, I think Taylor’s version — no pun intended — was when she invited me to sing with her,” Adams said. “She sang the lead vocal, I sang the harmony, and that was really fun for me because I’ve always thought that the harmony in that song is very subliminal on the record — but it’s there.” He added that Swift “knows that song really well,” and said, “But when I sang it with her, we nailed it.”
The moment matters because “Summer of ’69” has lived far beyond its release. Adams put it out in 1985 as the fourth single from his fourth studio album, Reckless, and the song reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard later ranked it among the best summer songs of all time, and more than 40 years later it remains a radio staple.
That longevity has come with a long-running misunderstanding. For decades, many fans assumed the title referred to the year 1969, especially because the song looks back on an idyllic summer spent playing guitar with “guys from school” and going to the drive-in. Adams has said otherwise. In an interview with Classic Rock Magazine, he said the song is not about 1969 and that he chose 69 because of the sexual position.
Adams also said producer Jimmy Iovine originally did not want to include either “Summer of ’69” or “Heaven” on Reckless, a reminder that some of the album’s most enduring material nearly never made it to the record. The friction between what was initially doubtful and what became defining is part of the song’s story now: a track once questioned in the studio became one of the songs most closely tied to Adams’ name.
Swift’s version of the song may have carried extra weight because Adams said the harmony is “one of the key things that most people don’t get when they hear the song.” He said, “and yeah…it’s fantastic.” After four decades of radio play, singalongs and mistaken interpretations, Adams has made plain what the title means and which performance, in his view, matched the song best: Swift’s.
