Ebony and Ivory
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| "Ebony and Ivory" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder | ||
| from the album Tug of War | ||
| B-side(s) | "Rainclouds" | |
| Released | May 26, 1982 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | 1981 | |
| Genre | Soft rock | |
| Label | Parlophone/EMI | |
| Writer(s) | Paul McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Paul McCartney chronology | ||
| "Temporary Secretary" (1980) |
"Ebony and Ivory" (1982) |
"Take It Away" (1982) |
This article is about a single album. For fictional pistols, see Dante (Devil May Cry).
"Ebony and Ivory" is a 1982 number-one single by Paul McCartney, performed with Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 29th of that year. At its most simple level, the song is about the ebony and ivory keys on a piano, but also deals with integration and racial harmony on a deeper level. The song is featured on Paul McCartney's album Tug of War as well as several Stevie Wonder Greatest Hits albums.
Though a vocal duet,the song was entirely written and almost entirely performed by McCartney (see the demos available on bootleg,and the album credits for detail). 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.[1]
[edit] Popular Culture references
- This song has being parodied in many US television shows, such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and movies such as Undercover Brother and the Ashton Kutcher movie Guess Who.
- In the videogame series Devil May Cry, the protagonist Dante wields two guns named Ebony and Ivory.
- The song was covered by a hardcore band Murphy's Law for their The Best of Times album.
- On Friends, the song was sung (off-screen) by Chandler Bing and his co-worker Shelly at a Karaoke in the Season One episode, The One with the Ick Factor. In the Season 10 episode, The One with Ross's Tan, Ross gets confused by the spray-on tan machine he was using, resulting in him being extremely dark on the front and light on the back. Upon seeing him, Chandler observes that he could sing a duet of Ebony and Ivory by himself.
- In the pilot episode of Everybody Hates Chris, the song played over a fight scene featuring Chris (Tyler James Williams) and Joey Caruso (Travis T.Flory).
- In the episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons named Marge's Son Poisoning, Carl Van Vechten and his mother are seen singing that song in a karaoke contest.
- In an episode of MTV's Rob and Big, Rob Dyrdek and Big Black sing karaoke to the song while wearing wigs.
- In a penny arcade comic, Gabe starts singing this song.
| Preceded by "Chariots of Fire" by Vangelis |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 15, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Don't You Want Me" by Human League |
| Preceded by "My Camera Never Lies" by Bucks Fizz |
UK number one single April 18, 1982 |
Succeeded by "A Little Peace" by Nicole |
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