The Late Great Johnny Ace
written and performed by Paul Simon
from "Hearts And Bones."
Transcribed by Erik Strom.
Abmaj7 D7 Abmaj7 D7
Abmaj7 D7
I was reading a magazine
Abmaj7 D7
And thinking of a rock and roll song
Abmaj7 D7
The year was nineteen fiftyfour
G G7
And I hadn't been playing that long
C F/C C C7
When a man came on the radio
F Gm7 F/A Bb9
And this is what he said
Am7 Dm E
He said I hate to break it to his fans
Am7 F Am Dm
But Johnny Ace is dead, yeah, yeah, yeah
G Abmaj7
Well, I really wasn't
D7
Such a Johnny Ace fan
Abmaj7 D
But I felt bad alI the same
Abmaj7 D
So I sent away for his photograph
G G7
And I waited till it came
C F/C C C7
It came all the way from Texas
F Gm7 F/A Bb9
With a sad and sim-ple face
Am7 Dm E
And they signed it on the bottom
Am7 F Am Dm G C
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
Bb/D Fm
I was living in London
Eb C B Bb Am F#dim Fm C
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.
Bb/D Fm Eb
We were staying up all night
C B Bb G F
And giving the days a-way
Bb9 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 Eb
And the music was flowing amazing
Bb7-9 Abmaj7 D7 Abmaj
And blowing my way
D7 Abmaj7 D7
On a cold December evening
Abmaj7 D7
I was walking through the Christmas tide
Abmaj7 D7
When a stranger came up and asked me
G G7
If I'd heard John Lennon had died
C F/C C C7
And the two of us went to this bar
F Gm7 F/A Bb9
And we stayed to close the place
Am7 Dm E
And every song we played
Am7 F Am Dm7 G
Was for The Late Great Johnny Ace, yeah, yeah, yeah
Am/E Bb/F
Am/E Bb/F
Am/E Bb Bbm/Db
Am/E Bb Bbm/Db
Am/E Bb/F Bbm/Db
Am/E Bb/F Bbm/Db
Am/E
Am/E
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