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Woody writes, "This summer I got an email from an old school friend of mine, songwriter Jim Vallance, who I haven't heard from in 35 years. Here is part of his email."

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"Hey Woody: Wow! I can't believe it's you. I stumbled across the "classmates.com" website a few days ago and saw your name there.

You're the first guy I ever played music with. I have very fond memories of hangin' out in the band room at lunch hour and after school. I think "Little Red Riding Hood" might have been one of the songs we played? I eventually got a little drum kit and played dances with Wayne Doerksen and Gordy for a year or so - also with Chuck Davies, my neighbour, who played guitar. Did you know Chuck? I still have my grade 9 report card with a wonderful comment from Mrs. Morissey, my French teacher: 'Jimmy can't drum his life away'. Well I did, more or less."

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Jim left Vanderhoof part way through grade 9 (1966 or '67) and moved to Terrace.  He graduated in 1970 and went to Vancouver where he ended up drumming on the Tom Jones TV series playing behind guests like Dusty Springfield, Paul Anka and Isaac Hayes.

In 1978 he met a cocky 18-year-old kid who was living with his mom and trying to write songs.  Jim helped him write a few songs but nobody was interested in them.  So they wrote some more songs, but nobody wanted those ones either.  So they wrote some MORE songs and eventually the kid got a recording contract.  Jim spent 11 years with him and sold 30 or 40 million albums if you can believe it.  The kid's name was Bryan Adams. 

Jim and Bryan also wrote songs for Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Kiss and Neil Diamond (and lots of others).  After that Jim spent some time on his own writing with Aerosmith, Heart, Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne. He has lots of good memories and lots of stories (like meeting Ringo, Sting, Springsteen, Princess Diana, etc).

One of the songs he wrote with Bryan Adams is called "Summer of 69".

Jim told me it's actually about Vanderhoof in '65. 

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Jim:  "A couple of years ago the Toronto Star newspaper were doing a feature story on Adams, and they asked me to analyze the lyrics for "Summer of 69" line by line.  Here's an excerpt from the interview.  I think you'll get a kick out of it, Woody, because you're part of the story":

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Toronto Star / December 1998

* I got my first real six string, bought it at the Five and Dime

When I was a kid in the 50's and 60's there were shops called "Five and Dime".  Now they call them "Dollar Stores"! 

* Played it 'til my fingers bled, it was the summer of '69

Anyone who's ever owned a guitar knows how the strings can be pretty rough on your fingers when you're first learning to play.  I got my first guitar for Christmas 1965, in Vanderhoof.  I played it all Christmas day and half that night.  I remember my dad coming down about one o'clock in the morning and telling me to get to sleep because I was keeping everybody up.  I actually played it 'til my fingers bled.

* Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard

My first band was with some school-mates in Vanderhoof.  I was in grade eight and the other guys were older, maybe grade ten or eleven. The band was Woody Whitmore, Wayne Doerksen, Gordy Keith and myself. My neighbour Chuck Davies also joined the band for a while.  We mostly played instrumental songs, like the Ventures, because none of us could sing.

* Jimmy quit and Jody got married

I remember Bryan and I going back and forth on this line.  I suggested "Woody quit, and Gordy got married", or something like that, but Bryan thought the names "Jimmy" and "Jody" sounded better.

* I shoulda known we'd never get far

I've always hated this line.  When we were writing the song I suggested "I got a job at the railway yard", because that's what Chuck had done  --  he got a job loading two-by-fours into box-cars at the Vanderhoof railway yard.  But Bryan's radar went up.  He thought it sounded too much like Bruce Springsteen. Maybe he was right, but personally I wish we'd used the "railway yard" lyric.  I still think its better.

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Best Regards,

Jim

Jim Vallance Official Website

Jim Vallance / Recorded Songs: 1977 - 2009

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