ebony and ivory

Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder took this metaphorical ballad about racial harmony to the top of the charts. McCartney got the idea for the title from a television performance by Spike Milligan playing segregated black and white keyboards during which Milligan said: “Black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!” He wrote 'Ebony and Ivory' after an argument with his wife Linda: "It was like, 'Why can't we get it together - our piano can.'" Once finished, he knew it would make a great duet: "I wanted to sing it with a black guy. And my first thought was Stevie.” Wonder remembers: “I listened to the song, and I liked it very much. … I felt it was positive for everybody. I won’t say it demanded of people to reflect upon it, but it politely asks the people to reflect upon life in using the terms of music … this melting pot of many different people."

They recorded the song together on the West Indies island of Montserrat with McCartney on Bass, guitar, synthesizers, vocoder, percussion, piano and vocals; Wonder on electric piano, synthesizers, drums, percussion and vocals; and Isaac Hayes helping with Back up vocals. George Martin produced the sessions and the rest of McCartney's 'Tug of War' album, on which the song appeared. 'Ebony and Ivory' was released a month before the album and was a worldwide smash, going to number three in Austria; two in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Switzerland; and number one in Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, the US, and the UK. In the US, it spent seven weeks at the top, making it Wonder's biggest hit ever and McCartney's second biggest after 'Hey Jude'. The song was banned in Apartheid South Africa.







https://www.paulmccartney.com/

http://www.steviewonder.net/

















Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we?

We all know
That people are the same wherever you go
There is good and bad in everyone
When we learn to live, we learn to give each other
What we need to survive
Together alive

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we?

(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)
(Ebony, ivory, ooh)

We all know
That people are the same wherever you go
There is good and bad, mmm, in everyone
We learn to live when we learn to give each other
What we need to survive
Together alive

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we?

Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we?

(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)
(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)
(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)

(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)
(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)
(Ebony, ivory)
(Living in perfect harmony)







McCartney and Wonder performed the song live together for the first time at the White House after Sir Paul was presented with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by President Obama.












Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy parodied the song doing impressions of Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder.

Parodie Eddie Murphy & Joe Piscopo by PeteRock