The Late, Great Johnny Ace
Words & music by Paul Simon 1981


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      I was reading a magazine

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And thinking of a rock and roll song

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The year was nineteen fifty four

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And I hadn't been playing that long

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When a man came on the radio

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And this is what he  said

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    He said I hate to break it to his fans

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But Johnny Ace is dead, yeah, yeah, yeah


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  Well, I really wasn't

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Such a Johnny Ace fan

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But I felt bad alI the same

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So I sent away for his photograph

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And I waited till it came

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It came all the way from Texas

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With a sad and sim-ple face

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    And they signed it on the bottom

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From the Late Great Johnny Ace, yeah, yeah, yeah


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It was the year of The Beatles

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It was the year of The Stones

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It was nineteen sixtyfour

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I was living in London

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With the girl from the summer be-fore


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It was the year of The Beatles

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It was the year of The Stones
 
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A year after J.F.K.

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We were staying up   all night

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And giving the days a-way


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    And the music was flowing amazing

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And blowing my way


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   On a cold December evening

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I was walking through the Christmas tide
 
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When a stranger came up and asked me

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If I'd heard John Lennon had died

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And the two of us went to this bar

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And we stayed to close the place

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    And every song we played

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Was for The Late Great Johnny Ace, yeah, yeah, yeah


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