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I get that bard's spells are spontaneous casting. But in AD&D they werent, and even before they were DIVINE CASTERS.
Where does bard's magic come from? Does it pull it from the ass like a sorcerer? Is it another type of magic altogheter?
It seems strange to me that Armer the farmer had a terrible childhood because he was setting things on fire with prestidigitation or putting people to sleep random.
It's pure fluff. It can be either, at the player's discretion.
Spontaneous doesn't (necessary) mean innate and prepared doesn't (necessary) mean learned. The specifics about how it exactly works change based on number of things like individual, culture and campaign setting.
Well, if we look at the starting age categories, bard falls under self-taught rather than intuitive (like the sorcerer) or trained (like the wizard). It seems fair to assume then, that the bard is indeed self-taught; maybe he has been fiddling around and experimenting with different things for a while before he figured out the fundamentals as opposed to the sorcerer who just kind of does it instinctively.
It's still a sort of ass-pull since charisma is sort of the "I have no real idea what I'm doing with this magical energy, but this seems to do the trick" casting stat, but it is one that he had to work to be able to pull off.
It could be either.
They could have learned it at a bard's college (if such exist in your game world).
Or they could simply excel in their chosen art, to the point where the effect transcends the mundane.
Or they might have gotten their magical power from a deal with a celestial or fiendish being - whether by their own hand or others'.
In other words, it is fluff, and wholly in the hands of player/GM preference.