Bryan Adams' Story About His First Guitar Discussed On The Song Summer Of 69

Bryan Adams (Instagram @bryanadams)

The first line sung by Bryan Adams in the song Summer of 69 reads: I got my first real sin-string/bought it at the Five and Dime (I got my first six-string guitar/Buy it on Five and Dine).

As is known, the 'Summer of 69' is like semi-autobiography, with the lyrics combining Adams' personal story with fiction.

In a recent interview on the podcast I Never Thought It Would Happen, he admitted that his first guitar story was not purchased on Five and Dime, but at a music store in Reading in 1970, when he was 12 years old.

Adams said his first guitar had a story in itself, which he always brought when traveling to many countries because of his father's job. But at one point, he chose to give the guitar to one of his neighbors.

"It was a mock Stratocaster. The story was that my father worked for the Canadian embassy and we were assigned all over the world and we were assigned to Israel and we spent a year there and I took my guitar there," Adams said. "But when we left, I left the guitar there and I gave it to my next neighbor. When I returned to Canada, I bought another one and I thought why did I do that?"

For decades, Adams no longer knew the whereabouts of his first guitar, until he finally got a message from someone via email.

I got a random email from someone who said, 'Hey, I got your guitar from 1970, do you want it back?' And I was like, 'Wow, of course I want it back. Thank you.' Then I never got any reply,' he said.

Because there was no reply, the 65-year-old singer admitted to trying to forget the message, until finally someone came to him and actually gave him the guitar.

"However, ten years after the email, I was at a club in Berlin and a man walked towards me and said, 'Brian, I have your guitar. I have a guitar from my time.'"

Adams explained that the man who approached him was a friend of the person who sent an email several years earlier, who died in a plane crash. He inherited the guitar and wanted to fulfill his late friend's desire to return it to Adams.