The Late Great Johnny Ace
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The Late Great Johnny Ace is a song by Paul Simon, which appears on his Hearts and Bones album. The song initially sings of the rhythm and blues singer Johnny Ace, who shot himself in a game of Russian roulette in 1954, goes on to reference Ex-Beatle John Lennon, who was shot dead in 1980 by Mark David Chapman, as well as referencing John F Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963, the year Beatlemania started.
The song, on the album, features a one minute classical piece by the composer Phillip Glass, for strings, clarinet, and flute, in his own style of polytonality of repeated musical phrases, in the key of A minor, in order to depict the mood of the sadness involved in the song, abruptly stopping the repetition to end the song.
The song was first performed live by Paul Simon during the Simon & Garfunkel reunion concert in Central Park in 1981. Near the end of the performance (possibly in response to Simon mentioning John Lennon's death), a fan rushed onto the stage, threatening Simon away from the microphone. He was heard to call out to Simon as he was pulled offstage by security: "I gotta talk to you, I gotta talk to you." Despite this interruption, he managed to quickly finish the song soon after. The obsessed fan was quickly led away by the security guards and arrested and jailed for the incident. The performance was included in the subsequent video release of the concert but was omitted from the live album.
On Late Night with David Letterman May 20, 1982 Simon discussed the Central Park experience with Letterman. Asked to sing the song and using a spontaneously loaned guitar, Paul performed from his chair instead of taking the stage. The director cut to a commercial before the end of the song, and Paul said he "will never do that one again." On the 2000 "You're The One" tour he did perform the song, preceding it with part of the Johnny Ace hit "Pledging My Love". This features on the DVD recorded in Paris.
The 2004 reissue of Hearts and Bones also contains a solo acoustic demo of the song.
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