The Late Great Johnny Ace

I was reading a magazine

And thinkin' of a rock 'n' roll song

The year was 1954

And I hadn't been playin' 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 all 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 simple 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 1964

I was livin' in London

With the girl from the summer before, yeah, yeah, yeah

It was the year of the Beatles

It was the year of the Stones

The year after JFK

We were stayin' up all night

And givin' the days away

And the music was flowin', amazing

And blowing my way

On a cold December evening

I was walkin' through the Christmas tide

When a stranger came up and asked me

If I had heard John Lennon 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