re: What kind of 6 string can you really buy at the 5 and dime?

quote:

---

What kind of 6 string can you really buy at the 5 and dime?

---

In this case, the "Five and Dime" was likely harkening back to an earlier time, as he was referencing the:

quote:

---

summerof69

---

Because, really, Five and Dime as a concept was already antiquated/arcane by the time of the 1980s.

In particular, we get a clue because it was his first "real" 6-string at that. So, an even better question, "real" implies a name brand, Fender, Gibson, Gretch, were they being sold in "Five and Dime" stores in the late 1960s?

I can find no hard data on such sales, but in the era before massive shopping malls, or even strip malls in such proliferation as we've seen over the past 30 years, or even the ubiquity of the Wal-Mart chain, which did not really begin to expand in earnest until it's incorporation in 1969 and formal name change in 1970 - recall that it started life as "Walton's Five and Dime" - just to circle back - pretty much everything that wasn't "food" for sale had to be offered by either "Five and Dimes" or larger department stores, the latter of which didn't exist for large swaths of the country.

And, in reality, Bryan Adams didn't turn 10 years old until late in 1969 - insofar as the song was somewhat autobiographical, and a reference to the sexual position, moreso than a literal reference to the year, it's possible your entire point is entertaining, but moot.