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"Ebony and Ivory"
Single by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
from the album Tug of War
B-side	"Rainclouds"
Released	29 March 1982
Format	7"
Recorded	1981
Genre	Pop/R&B
Label	Parlophone/EMI (UK) Columbia (US)
Writer(s)	Paul McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Paul McCartney chronology "Temporary Secretary" (1980) "Ebony and Ivory" (1982) "Take It Away" (1982) Stevie Wonder chronology "That Girl" (1982) "Ebony and Ivory" (1982) "Do I Do" (1982)

"Ebony and Ivory" is a 1982 number-one single by Paul McCartney, performed with Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 29 of that year. The song is featured on McCartney's album Tug of War as well as several of Wonder's Greatest Hits albums. The song reached number one on both the UK and the US charts in 1982.

At the simplest level, the song is about the ebony (black) and ivory (white) keys on a piano, but also deals with integration and racial harmony on a deeper level. The title was inspired by McCartney hearing Spike Milligan say "black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony folks!".^[1] The figure is much older. It was popularized by James Aggrey in the 1920s, inspiring the title of the pan-African journal The Keys, but was in use from at least the 1840s.^[2]

Although written by McCartney alone, the song was performed live in the studio by both McCartney and Wonder, though due to conflicting work schedules, both recorded their parts for the song's music video separately (as explained by McCartney in his commentary for The McCartney Years 3-dvd boxed set).

"Ebony and Ivory" spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the fourth-biggest hit of 1982.^[3] For McCartney, the song's run atop the chart was the longest of any of his post-Beatles works, and second longest career-wise (behind "Hey Jude" with The Beatles); for Wonder, it was his longest-running chart-topper.^[4] The song also spent five weeks atop the adult contemporary chart.^[5] It would also mark the first time that any single released by any member of the Beatles would hit the Billboard Black Singles charts.

Following the song's massive chart success, it was derided as "saccharine" and was later named as the tenth worst song of all time by Blender magazine.^[6] On October 2007 it was named the worst duet in history by BBC 6 Music listeners.^[7] However, the song's title was picked up by a journalist reporting on two stroke victims, one black, one white, who played a duo, one hand each.^[8]

The song listed at #59 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.^[9]

This song has been parodied in many US television shows, such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Everybody Hates Chris and Saturday Night Live, as well as movies such as Undercover Brother and Guess Who.^{[citation needed]}

Track listings

7" single

1. "Ebony and Ivory" (with Stevie Wonder)
2. "Rainclouds"

12" single

1. "Ebony and Ivory" (with Stevie Wonder)
2. "Rainclouds"
3. "Ebony and Ivory" (solo version)

Personnel

• Paul McCartney: Bass, guitar, synthesisers, vocoder, percussion, piano and vocals
• Stevie Wonder: Electric piano, synthesisers, drums, percussion and vocals
• Isaac Hayes: Back up Vocals

Chart positions

Notes