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
Are there songs dealing with flashbulb memories? This one does. Look at the amount of detail related in the lyric leading up to Johnny Ace's death: Reading a magazine, thinking about a song, the year, radio broadcast. We all have flashbulb memories, and usually there is great significance attached. As we will see, our hero isn't especially a fan of Johnny Ace - so why does he remember this so well?
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
So our hero is not really a fan, but the death hits him enough to send for a memento. I assume our hero is roughly the same age as Paul Simon himself, so in 1954 he would have been 12-13 or so. Hadn't been playing music for long? What our hero is expressing indirectly is Ace's death reminds him that he, too will be dead one day. After all, here's a young, popular musician who died young; our hero is an aspiring musician himself.
It was the year of The Beatles
It was the year of The Stones
It was nineteen 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 J.F.K.
We were staying up all night
And giving the days away
And the music was flowing amazing
And blowing my way
It happens just like this: at a young age, we realize that the end will come one day, we grieve for ourselves for a while, then we move on and live. Our hero cannot describe with much specificity what is going on in his life - even a flashbulb event like the Kennedy assassination gets just a quick nod - because good things are happening and happening fast. 1964 is specified, but he can't get a handle on it beyond just mentioning a few noteworthy and general events.
On a cold December evening
I was walking through the Christmas tide
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
The stranger was obviously a musician and the bar had an open mike. Because they played for Johnny Ace, I'm guessing that Ace's death had hit the stranger the same way back in 1954, and Lennon's death had had a similar impact on our hero and the stranger. But look at how youth copes in the former case and experience copes in the latter: in an early stage of the journey, our hero brooded upon one musician's death. Present day (in the song, of course), he mourns by bonding with another person.
A sort of "denial into acceptance" story here, I think.
@dark_nation There’s nothing in the song that says that Paul Simon and a stranger went to a bar and commandeered the stage - he isn’t necessarily “Paul Simon” in the song - or maybe he is - but he goes into the bar to DRINK, not play. It shows how much time has passed since he heard about the death of the actual Johnny Ace, and how different he is, and still it affects him deeply. The meeting of a stranger is there to show us the effect The Beatles had on EVERYBODY (of a certain age/class/race, etc)....
@dark_nation There’s nothing in the song that says that Paul Simon and a stranger went to a bar and commandeered the stage - he isn’t necessarily “Paul Simon” in the song - or maybe he is - but he goes into the bar to DRINK, not play. It shows how much time has passed since he heard about the death of the actual Johnny Ace, and how different he is, and still it affects him deeply. The meeting of a stranger is there to show us the effect The Beatles had on EVERYBODY (of a certain age/class/race, etc).
I did like your post though, disagreement(s) notwithstanding. Nice to know somebody else cares about this song other than myself!
Johnny Ace’s death is such a wild story...he supposedly died while playing Russian Roulette before a show on Christmas Day, 1954. It was right at the beginning of the Rock n Roll era, so when you see lists (Book Of Rock Lists, mostly) of “Rock n Roll deaths”, the name “Johnny Ace” is always at the top of any (chronological) list. So although there’s not a lot of material to hear, or facts to read up on, the death of Johnny Ace has always held a strange fascination for me. I find the use of ‘Pledging My Love’ in Bad Lieutenant to be haunting and appropriate...maybe because of the circumstances of his death as much as the song itself (it’s easily his most well-known song)...anyone who’s seen the ending knows what I’m talking about...
Anyway, it’s way more likely that Johnny Ace was murdered by his manager, Don Robey, possibly because he was going to leave his “management”. Robey represented a lot of Chitlin’ Circuit stars back then, IIRC, Big Mama Thornton (who may have been present at Ace’s death), and it’s quite possible he was sending a message to the othe artists in his stable - stay or die. Horrifying. But what a story! It was BACKSTAGE AT A CONCERT!!
“Johnny, you’re on next”
“OK, right after my next turn...”
(BLAM!!!!)
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
Are there songs dealing with flashbulb memories? This one does. Look at the amount of detail related in the lyric leading up to Johnny Ace's death: Reading a magazine, thinking about a song, the year, radio broadcast. We all have flashbulb memories, and usually there is great significance attached. As we will see, our hero isn't especially a fan of Johnny Ace - so why does he remember this so well?
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
So our hero is not really a fan, but the death hits him enough to send for a memento. I assume our hero is roughly the same age as Paul Simon himself, so in 1954 he would have been 12-13 or so. Hadn't been playing music for long? What our hero is expressing indirectly is Ace's death reminds him that he, too will be dead one day. After all, here's a young, popular musician who died young; our hero is an aspiring musician himself.
It was the year of The Beatles It was the year of The Stones It was nineteen 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 J.F.K. We were staying up all night And giving the days away And the music was flowing amazing And blowing my way
It happens just like this: at a young age, we realize that the end will come one day, we grieve for ourselves for a while, then we move on and live. Our hero cannot describe with much specificity what is going on in his life - even a flashbulb event like the Kennedy assassination gets just a quick nod - because good things are happening and happening fast. 1964 is specified, but he can't get a handle on it beyond just mentioning a few noteworthy and general events.
On a cold December evening I was walking through the Christmas tide 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
The stranger was obviously a musician and the bar had an open mike. Because they played for Johnny Ace, I'm guessing that Ace's death had hit the stranger the same way back in 1954, and Lennon's death had had a similar impact on our hero and the stranger. But look at how youth copes in the former case and experience copes in the latter: in an early stage of the journey, our hero brooded upon one musician's death. Present day (in the song, of course), he mourns by bonding with another person.
A sort of "denial into acceptance" story here, I think.
@dark_nation There’s nothing in the song that says that Paul Simon and a stranger went to a bar and commandeered the stage - he isn’t necessarily “Paul Simon” in the song - or maybe he is - but he goes into the bar to DRINK, not play. It shows how much time has passed since he heard about the death of the actual Johnny Ace, and how different he is, and still it affects him deeply. The meeting of a stranger is there to show us the effect The Beatles had on EVERYBODY (of a certain age/class/race, etc)....
@dark_nation There’s nothing in the song that says that Paul Simon and a stranger went to a bar and commandeered the stage - he isn’t necessarily “Paul Simon” in the song - or maybe he is - but he goes into the bar to DRINK, not play. It shows how much time has passed since he heard about the death of the actual Johnny Ace, and how different he is, and still it affects him deeply. The meeting of a stranger is there to show us the effect The Beatles had on EVERYBODY (of a certain age/class/race, etc).
I did like your post though, disagreement(s) notwithstanding. Nice to know somebody else cares about this song other than myself!
Johnny Ace’s death is such a wild story...he supposedly died while playing Russian Roulette before a show on Christmas Day, 1954. It was right at the beginning of the Rock n Roll era, so when you see lists (Book Of Rock Lists, mostly) of “Rock n Roll deaths”, the name “Johnny Ace” is always at the top of any (chronological) list. So although there’s not a lot of material to hear, or facts to read up on, the death of Johnny Ace has always held a strange fascination for me. I find the use of ‘Pledging My Love’ in Bad Lieutenant to be haunting and appropriate...maybe because of the circumstances of his death as much as the song itself (it’s easily his most well-known song)...anyone who’s seen the ending knows what I’m talking about...
Anyway, it’s way more likely that Johnny Ace was murdered by his manager, Don Robey, possibly because he was going to leave his “management”. Robey represented a lot of Chitlin’ Circuit stars back then, IIRC, Big Mama Thornton (who may have been present at Ace’s death), and it’s quite possible he was sending a message to the othe artists in his stable - stay or die. Horrifying. But what a story! It was BACKSTAGE AT A CONCERT!!
“Johnny, you’re on next” “OK, right after my next turn...” (BLAM!!!!)
“Uh, who’s supposed to be AFTER Johnny?”