- Album This song officially appears on the Tug Of War Official album.
- Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1980 (Paul McCartney was 38 years old)
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
August 1980
Oct 30, 1980
Tug Of War sessions at AIR Studios, London
December 1980
Feb 28, 1981
Mar 30, 1981
Overdubs for "Ebony And Ivory"
October 1981
Jan 19, 1982
March 2-30, 2015
Related interviews
Sep 14, 2018 • From NME
From writing Yesterday... to collaborating with Kanye - AT HOME WITH A POP GENIUS
May 2015 • From Q Magazine
2015 • From paulmccartney.com
November 2012 • From GQ Magazine
Ex-Wings guitarist, Laurence Juber, talks about attending "Paul McCartney University"
Aug 09, 2010 • From Daytrippin' Beatles Magazine
I like Obama...and he's right to have a go at us for polluting his country
Jun 24, 2010 • From The Sun
Fab? If you say so, pop pickers
Apr 25, 1997 • From The Times
Winter 1994 • From Club Sandwich
An Interview With Paul McCartney
1989 / 1990
Paul McCartney: The Rolling Stone Interview
Sep 11, 1986 • From RollingStone
Spread the love! If you like what you are seeing, share it on social networks and let others know about The Paul McCartney Project.
Song facts
They didn’t like ‘Ebony and Ivory’, the critics. I can see what they’re talking about […] But for Christ’s sake it was number one, you know? It did something. You find yourself justifying your successes. It’s a funny state of affairs.
Paul McCartney in “Conversations With McCartney“, by Paul Du Noyer
From Wikipedia:
“Ebony and Ivory” is a 1982 number-one single by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 29 of that year. The song is featured on McCartney’s album Tug of War. A self-empowerment hit that tackles issues of racial equality, the song reached number one on both the UK and the U.S. charts. It reappears on McCartney’s All the Best! hits compilation (1987), and also on the UK two-disc version of Wonder’s The Definitive Collection greatest hits compilation (2002). In 2013, Billboard Magazine ranked the song as the 69th biggest hit of all-time on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Background
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, human 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!”. The figure of speech is much older. 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.
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).
The b-side of the single, the song “Rainclouds”, is written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine, though on early pressings of the single the song was credited only to McCartney.
Chart rankings
“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.
Critical reception
The song was derided as “saccharine” and was later named as the tenth worst song of all time by Blender magazine. In October 2007, it was named the worst duet in history by BBC 6 Music listeners.
The phrase, “Keyboard, Oh Lord! Why Don’t We?” was used for the title of the third album by Norwegian stoner rock band Thulsa Doom. The song and video were parodied in a commercial for the 2008 season of the USA Network show Psych.
“Ebony and Ivory” was banned in South Africa by the South African Broadcasting Corporation during the Apartheid era, making it the only song McCartney released in his solo career to receive such a ban. The official reason for the song’s ban was because Stevie Wonder accepted his 1984 Academy Award for Best Original Song “in the name of Nelson Mandela.” […]
Paul McCartney in "Conversations With McCartney", by Paul Du Noyer:
They didn’t like ‘Ebony and Ivory’, the critics. I can see what they’re talking about, but I think it was good. A black sax player, Ernie Watts, who plays for the Stones, he thanked me in LA: ‘Hey Paul, that song? I’ve got a white girlfriend, it really helped.’ Now, why am I gonna listen to some critics after that? I don’t care if they don’t like it, it sold OK. I got to sing with Stevie.It wasn’t the greatest coming together of me and Stevie. Cos he’s a giant, and I can be fairly gigantic, and the two of us could have been mega giants… But for Christ’s sake it was number one, you know? It did something. You find yourself justifying your successes. It’s a funny state of affairs.
There had been criticisms of naivety and simplicity in Paul’s material, with critics particularly singling out “Ebony and Ivory.” What was his reaction to those critics? “Well. it would worry me if I wasn’t singing about peace and racial harmony. I mean, if I was doing a simplistic approach for catching mice, or something that didn’t matter, but it really matters! It’s like what’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding? I mean, it’s still that one The Government now have got very anti-CND. I don’t think you shouldn’t have defence, but you really should be aiming for peace. The thing with the Falklands, there’s a kind of military resurgence, and with the riots and stuff, there was some kind of racist resurgence… I’ve just got to do those songs, whether they’re too simple or not. But the opposite is, though, I have letters from people who say that ‘Ebony and Ivory’ is good. It brought me and my friend together, or something… Some people need you to say black and white should live together, brother. And if you can’t be more detailed, then that’s OK. Not everything has to be very detailed and a great thesis. I’m not writing a thesis here; these are hooks for racial harmony. I’m not trying to say that they’re anything more than ditties… The ditty’s alright, it’s a way you kind of keep your self-respect. People accuse me of being dishonest, or whatever. I still think there are fans out there who don’t think that. I certainly never thought it until the critics did. I thought, this is great, it’s a nice song, me and Stevie, lovely, and he’s on the backing, lovely harmonies and all that. Later, when people said to me it’s too simplistic, I said well maybe it is. It never occurred to me.“
From Club Sandwich N° 31, 1983
I wanted a black feller and me as the white feller – I thought that was the way it ought to be done: it seemed obvious. I thought if I could have anyone it would be Stevie Wonder, so I got a demo to him and said ‘I’d love you to be the other singer on it’ and Stevie sent a message back saying sure, he liked it and he might do it. So I said, we’re going to Montserrat and it’d be great if we could team up there. “We got to Montserrat and my manager came in a bit pasty-faced and said ‘I don’t think Stevie’s coming’. Luckily he was still on the phone, so I leapt to the phone: ‘Stevie, you’ve gotta come down!’ ‘Well, I’ve got some stuff up here to do’ (this elusive album he was always doing). But he’s a lovely guy, so I said ‘Come on, you’ve gotta come down. You haven’t had a holiday and it’s fantastic here: swimming, clear skies – it’s gorgeous.’ So he came and we made the track and that was great.
Paul McCartney, from Club Sandwich N°47/48, Spring 1988
Last updated on April 12, 2020

The book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present", published in 2021, covers Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, the Beatles, Wings, and solo careers, by pairing the lyrics of 154 of his songs with first-person commentaries of the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.
"Ebony And Ivory" is one of the 154 songs covered.
Lyrics
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
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
We all know that people are the same wherever you go
There is good and bad, 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…
Officially appears on
12" Single • Released in 1982
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
12" Single • Released in 1982
3:41 • Studio version • B • Solo version
- Paul McCartney :
- Arrangement, Backing vocals, Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Synthesizers, Vocals, Vocoder
- Stevie Wonder :
- Drums, Electric piano, Percussion, Synthesizers
- 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
7" Single • Released in 1982
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
Official album • Released in 1982
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
Official album • Released in 1987
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
Official album • Released in 1987
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
Official live • Released in 1990
4:01 • Live • L1
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Linda McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Chris Whitten
- Paul McCartney :
- Producer
- Eddie Klein :
- Assistant engineer
- Matt Butler :
- Assistant engineer
- Peter Henderson :
- Producer
- Bob Clearmountain :
- Mixing engineer, Producer
- Jeff Cohen :
- Recording engineer
- Geoff Foster :
- Assistant engineer
- Scott Hull :
- Assistant engineer
- George Cowan :
- Assistant engineer
- Paul Rushbrook :
- Assistant engineer
Concert From the concert in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Nov 08, 1989
Official album • Released in 1993
3:43 • Studio version • A1993 • 1993 remaster
- 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
Bootlegs
Unofficial album
Unofficial album
Unofficial album
Films
Ebony and Ivory (Solo version - version 1)
1982 • For Paul McCartney
Ebony And Ivory (Solo version - version 2)
1982 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Keith McMillan
Ebony and Ivory (with Stevie Wonder)
1982 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Keith McMillan
Live performances
“Ebony And Ivory” has been played in 80 concerts and 17 soundchecks.
Latest concerts where Ebony And Ivory has been played
Jun 02, 2010 • USA • Washington • White House
Copenhagen • Falkoner Theatre • Denmark
Jul 24, 1991 • Part of Unplugged 1991 Summer Tour
Westcliff-on-Sea • Cliffs Pavilion • United Kingdom
Jul 19, 1991 • Part of Unplugged 1991 Summer Tour
St Austell • Cornwall Coliseum • United Kingdom
Jun 07, 1991 • Part of Unplugged 1991 Summer Tour
Naples • Teatro Palapartenope • Italy
Jun 05, 1991 • Part of Unplugged 1991 Summer Tour
Going further
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989
With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.
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Boycott Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder the history of the song ebony and ivory that was written by a poor homeless man who has very little income .call 212 246 5881 boycott paul mccartney
Song lyrics not by paul mccartney or stevie wonder.the history books are wrong. albundyhobo@yahoo.com
Both the way your comments are written looks a bit spammy - sorry if I'm wrong. Keen to get facts on what you say. Thanks for your contribution.
Duets: Singing down the walls of racism – Indie News 3 years ago
[…] it was bashed by cynical critics as being saccharine and unrealistic, that didn’t stop the listening public from buying enough records to make it […]
Paul McCartney, Ebony and Ivory | Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 8 months ago
[…] with more range. That’s a strike ❌ against it. The Paul McCartney Project expounds on the critical failure of this song, despite its commercial […]