“Daft Punk is playing at my house — my house!” Murphy exclaimed at the song’s start. Unfortunately, the group never actually performed at Murphy’s pad. His explanation:

I used to play house parties in punk rock bands. You don’t really get paid, but what you do is sell a ton of merchandise, and get a place to sleep. When I got into dancing, taking E and being optimistic, I thought; wouldn’t it be great if some kid wanted Daft Punk to play at his house? So he rings the agent who says they’ll cost $40,000 and he saves for seven years and finally gets enough money and flies Daft Punk over. And, of course, they’d have no idea where they would be landing, ‘cos the rider includes two first-class tickets on Air France. And the kids would be earnestly trying to meet all the rider requirements, but Daft Punk would still end up playing in the basement next to the washing machine, which we all did. A local hardcore band is supporting, and the PA consists of all the local kids’ amps and stereos taped together. I thought that would be like the best show that anyone would ever see.”

According to Co-songwriter Jim Vallance:

I remember Bryan and I going back and forth on this line. I suggested “Woody quit and Gordy got married”, like the guys in my high-school band, but Bryan thought “Jimmy” and “Jody” sounded better, and I had to agree.

I’m not sure where Bryan got the name “Jimmy” – we didn’t discuss it at the time – but in a recent interview he said it was a reference to one of his early drummers.

“Jody” is definitely Bryan’s sound-man, Jody Perpik, who got married around the time we were working on the song. Jody and his wife appear in Bryan’s video for “Summer Of ‘69”, driving away with a “Just Married” sign on the back of their car.

According to Adams, who came up with the title, the number 69 is used in reference to sex, and not the year 1969:

“It’s a very simple song about looking back on the summertime and making love. For me, the ‘69 was a metaphor for making love not about the year. I had someone in Spain ask me once why I wrote the first line 'I had my first real sex dream’… I had to laugh.”

However, his co-writer Jim Vallance claims that it has nothing to do with the sex position.

According to Co-songwriter Jim Vallance:

This is where the phrase “summer of ‘69” appears for the first time … quite casually, as line #4 of the first verse. It’s interesting to note: in our first draft of the song, the lyric “summer of '69” appears only once, never to be repeated. It wasn’t the title, it was just another line in the song. In fact, we originally planned on calling the song “Best Days Of My Life”.

One of the last lines of the song “Me and my baby in a 69” supports the sex position statement, as confirmed by Adams himself.

According to Co-songwriter Jim Vallance:

When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s there were shops called “Five and Dime” where you could (supposedly) buy anything for five or ten cents, which wasn’t always true. Now they call them “Dollar Stores”!

Neither Bryan or I ever bought a guitar at the “Five and Dime”. I got my first guitar from my parents, Christmas 1965, when I was thirteen. Bryan bought his first guitar at a pawn shop in 1972, age twelve.

Contrary to the opening verse, in this verse the feeling is that the scientists are cooperating in their struggle. They’re racing, but it’s not necessarily against each other. Against time, against danger. The term “side by side” is usually used for allies… in a competition it would be “neck and neck” or “head to head.”