It marked the first time in McCartney's solo career that he had sung a duet with another major star. The "Ebony and Ivory" single was released on 29 March 1982 in both the UK and the United States. When leaving AIR Studios in central London that evening, he said in response to a TV reporter's question about the murder: "drag, isn't it?" The footage was included in news broadcasts around the world and McCartney's apparent casualness, though masking his profound shock, earned condemnation from the press. According to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, "Rainclouds" is "perhaps most notorious" as the track that McCartney worked on during 9 December 1980, straight after hearing that John Lennon had been fatally shot in New York. The B-side of the single, "Rainclouds", was written by McCartney and Denny Laine, though on early pressings of the single the song was credited only to McCartney. That same day, McCartney filmed a promotional interview for the Tug of War album. This version was directed by Barry Myers on 11 February 1982. Due to conflicting work schedules, McCartney and Wonder filmed their parts for the song's music video separately (as explained by McCartney in his commentary for The McCartney Years 3-DVD boxed set).Ī video for the solo version was also made, which showed McCartney playing piano with a bright spotlight, and black men in prison, including one of them being uplifted by the song, dancing and listening to it in prison as well as in the studio. McCartney then carried out overdubs on the track at AIR in London. He and Wonder recorded it together at George Martin's AIR Studios in Montserrat during sessions lasting from 27 February to 2 March 1981. While writing the song, McCartney envisaged singing it with a black male singer. It was popularised 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. 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!" The figure of speech is much older. The song uses the ebony (black) and ivory (white) keys on a piano as a metaphor for integration and racial harmony. McCartney wrote "Ebony and Ivory" at his farm in Scotland. In 2013, Billboard ranked it as the 69th-biggest hit of all-time on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The track also appears on McCartney's All the Best! compilation (1987) and on the two-disc version of Wonder's The Definitive Collection (2002). While a major commercial hit, the song has received derision from music critics who view its message as overly simplistic and sentimental. The single marked the first time that McCartney had released a duet with another major artist and anticipated his 1980s collaborations with Michael Jackson. McCartney and Wonder began recording "Ebony and Ivory" in Montserrat in early 1981. During the apartheid era, the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned the song after Wonder dedicated his 1984 Academy Award for Best Original Song to Nelson Mandela. The single reached number one on both the UK and the US charts and was among the top-selling singles of 1982 in the US. Written by McCartney, the song aligns the black and white keys of a piano keyboard with the theme of racial harmony. It was issued on 29 March that year as the lead single from McCartney's third solo album, Tug of War (1982). " Ebony and Ivory" is a song that was released in 1982 as a single by Paul McCartney featuring Stevie Wonder.
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