The Late Great Johnny Ace

Words & music by paul simon



I was reading a magazine

And thinking of a rock and roll song

The year was nineteen fiftyfour

And i hadn't been playing that long

When a man came on the radio

And this is what he said

He said i hate to break it to his fans

But johnny ace is dead, yeah, yeah, yeah



Well, i really wasn't

Such a johnny ace fan

But i felt bad ali the same

So i sent away for his photograph

And i waited till it came

It came all the way from texas

With a sad and sim-ple face

And they signed it on the bottom

From the late great johnny ace, yeah, yeah, yeah



It was the year of the beatles

It was the year of the stones

It was nineteen sixtyfour

I was living in london

With the girl from the summer be-fore



It was the year of the beatles

It was the year of the stones

A year after j.f.k.

We were staying up all night

And giving the days away

And the music was flowing amazing

And blowing my way



On a cold december evening

I was walking through the christmas tide

When a stranger came up and asked me

If i'd heard john lennon had died

And the two of us went to this bar

And we stayed to close the place

And every song we played

Was for the late great johnny ace, yeah, yeah, yeah


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