When Adams appeared on The Early Show in 2008, he revealed that the song was about sex and making love in the summertime. He also said that "69" was a reference to the sexual position, 69. It is one of Adams' most well known songs and is one of his most successful. It won the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for US radio airplay in 1985. In 1986, it won the Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian radio airplay and in 2000 it won a Socan Classics Award for more than 100,000 Canadian radio performances.