Bryan Adams does it again!

Well, a few months ago I wrote about the miracle that occurred in my life, wherein I heard Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69” twice in ten minutes, which led to a minor obsession with the song and a detailed dissection of the music video. This week at the gym, I happened to hear my second favorite Bryan Adams song, which of course led me to wonder, what secrets did that video hold?



What Bryan Adams has done here in just over four minutes is create a stunning visualization of love and loneliness. Both the song and the video explore people’s search for companionship, and how they sometimes settle for less than they deserve, or how they sometimes have to hold out and fight the lonely fight.

There are two parallel stories in this video—one of the girl with the asshole boyfriend, and one of just Bryan; Bryan singing, dancing, walking, sitting with a dog, etc. At first I thought these stories would intersect, and that Bryan would end up with the girl, but he doesn’t. The girl represents the first kind of person, who is staying with a guy she doesn’t really care about because she’s decided “it ain’t worth fighting for” (“it” being her dignity or self-respect or something…that line is the line when she decides to get back into the asshole’s car). These are the “winners are losers” line…even though they are together, it’s wrong and they’re unhappy. Yet poor Bryan is still alone.

Bryan is the one who knows how badly we need somebody to love—just listen to that raw emotion when he sings, “I need somebody. Yeah what about you?! We all need somebody!” But in this video, he is doomed to loneliness.

A few things to look for---
• One of the main singing scenes is Bryan walking between, like, industrial equipment that towers over him, so you can barely see the sky. He’s trapped inside this world, like he’s trapped in this loneliness
• Watch for the lines that appear over and over—ladders, railroad tracks, he sits on a fence, even the thing that he runs/dances on top of has several decks or something underneath, making lines. These are the lines of connection that bind us to one another, and even though Bryan wishes desperately that his lines went somewhere, they don’t.

There are lots of scenes of Bryan by himself, mournful. One could argue, at around the 1:25 mark, when he throws that rock, that he’s just trying to impact someone, tie his actions to someone, so that he’s not alone anymore. Then there are the scenes where Bryan sings to the dog. Dogs are known for being there and providing companionship even when humans aren’t around. But the dog never even goes over to Bryan. It’s just Bryan singing to the dog, and the dog is unmoved. Bryan is alone.

Then the best setting of the video, when Bryan enters a stadium where the girl is. This is where I thought the girl would run into his arms, but it’s yet another depiction of how alone we can be, even when we’re with someone (like the girl is) or when we’re in big crowds (like Bryan is). Bryan’s the center of attention—he’s on the screen, and he’s on the field, but he’s out there alone. There’s also the question of which Bryan is “real”—as the clips are of different scenes in the video. Who is Bryan, really? I am sure this is a question that a lot of performers must deal with.
He is the performer who creates the sense of connection for others (by starting the wave, or, by writing hit songs such as Summer of 69 and somebody), but at the end of the video, he’s alone in an empty field, with nothing but the echoes of the departed crowd.

The lyrics seems to echo this:

Another night, another lesson learned
It’s the distance keeps us sane
But when the silence leads to sorrow
We do it all again – all again

Bryan knows that it’s better to keep people at a distance, rather than be unhappy in a relationship like that girl, but he won’t stop hungering or searching for that connection.

Now for all the sad motifs in this video, there are quite a few lighthearted BA moments. I like when he jumps over the railroad tracks, when he pulls up the sleeve of his leather jacket kind of weird, and about two and a half minutes in, where he does a few turns in a row. And of course the best moment is when Bryan does a somersault on the football field.