Ebony And Ivory / Rainclouds

Track list

Side 1

1. Ebony And Ivory

   Written by Paul McCartney

   3:43 • Studio version • A

   Paul McCartney : Arrangement, Backing vocals, Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Synthesizers, Vocals, Vocoder Stevie Wonder : Backing vocals, Drums, Electric piano, Percussion, Synthesizers, Vocals George Martin : Arrangement, Producer Geoff Emerick : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jon Jacobs : Assistant mixing engineer, Assistant recording engineer Mike Stavrou : Assistant recording engineer

   Session Recording: Feb 28, 1981 • Studio AIR Studios, Montserrat

   Session Overdubs: Mar 30, 1981 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

   Session Overdubs: October 1981 • Studio Strawberry Studios South, Dorkins, Surrey

   Session Mixing: Jan 19, 1982 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

Side 2

1. Rainclouds

   Written by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine

   3:12 • Studio version • A

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass drum, Spanish guitar, Vocals Linda McCartney : Backing vocals Denny Laine : Backing vocals Eric Stewart : Backing vocals George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jon Jacobs : Mixing assistant engineer, Recording assistant engineer Paddy Moloney : Uilleann pipes

   Session Recording: December 8th-9th, 1980 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

   Session Overdubs: March 1981 - March 1982 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

   Session Mixing: March 1981 - March 1982 • Studio AIR Studios, London, UK

   Credits & recording details courtesy of Luca Perasi • Buy Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989 on Amazon

From Wikipedia:

“Ebony and Ivory” spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the fourth-biggest hit of 1982. 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. It marked the first time that any single released by any member of the Beatles hit the Billboard R&B chart. It was McCartney’s record 28th song to hit number one on the Billboard 100.

In 2008, the song was ranked at #59 on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of all time. In 2013, it was ranked #69 on the Billboard list of the Hot 100 songs of all-time.