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      


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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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