Paul Simon - The Late Great Johnny Ace lyrics

I was reading a magazine and thinking
Of a rock and roll song
The year was 1954 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 all the same
So I sent away for his photograph
And I waited 'til 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 living in London with the
Girl from the summer before
It was the year of the Beatles
It was the year of the Stones
A year after JFK
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 Christmastide
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