| D | |
| I got my first real six-string |
| A | |
| Bought it at a five-and-dime |
| D | |
| Played it til my fingers bled |
| A | |
| 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 |
| Chorus |
| Bm | A | |
| Oh when I | look back now |
| D | G | |
| that summer seemed to | last forever |
| Bm | A | |
| Oh and if I | had a choice |
| D | G | |
| Yeah I'd | always wanna be there |
| Bm | A | D | |
| Those were the | best days of my | life |
| Ain't no use in complainin' |
| when you got a job to do |
| Spent my evenings down at the drive-in |
| and that's where I met you |
| Chorus |
| 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 |
| A | D | D | Dsus2 | D | Dsus4 | D | Dsus2 | D | |
| Those were the | best days of my | life |
| A | Asus2 | A | Asus4 | A | Asus2 | A | D | |
| back | in the | summer | of | '69 |
| Bridge |
| F | Bb | |
| Man we were | killing time |
| C | Bb | F | |
| we were | young and restless we | needed to un | wind |
| Bb | C | D | |
| I guess | nothin' can last for | ever- forever; | no |
| D | Dsus2 | D | Dsus4 | D | Dsus2 | D | A | Asus2 | A | Asus4 | A | Asus2 | A | |
| And now the times are changing |
| look at everything thats come and gone |
| Sometimes when I play that old six-string |
| I think about you wonder what went wrong |
| Chorus |
| 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 |
Back in the summer of 69
