On This Day Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder Finally Recorded ‘Ebony and Ivory’
Paul McCartney finally got Stevie Wonder to the recording studio to make “Ebony and Ivory” on Feb. 27, 1982. The former Beatle waited a long time for the “Superstition” singer to show up after they made plans to record the song.
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder finally recorded ‘Ebony and Ivory’ on Feb. 27, 1982
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul said he wrote “Ebony and Ivory” in 1980 “as a response to the problem of racial tension, which had been the cause of a lot of friction in the U.K. around that time.”
He made the demo in his Scottish recording studio and asked Wonder if he wanted to help him record it. They were old friends, first meeting in 1966 after a 15-year-old Wonder played a show in London.
Paul and Wonder agreed to meet at Monserrat, where producer George Martin had a recording studio. However, Paul didn’t yet know that Wonder operated on his own time.
Wonder was “supposed to show up but he didn’t. So there was a lot of phoning, which is the way it is with Stevie. ‘We’re here. When are you coming out?’ It was always ‘this Friday.’
“Then the weekend would go by, and I’d ring him on Monday. ‘Oh, I’ll be there on Wednesday.’ Oh, okay.’ So there was a lot of that. He’s his own man. He’ll show up when he’s ready.”
It’s a miracle the singer-songwriters managed to make “Ebony and Ivory.” However, when Wonder finally showed up, Paul said it was great. Although, he had to be careful of messing up because Wonder heard every mistake.
“It was fascinating because he is such a musical monster; he just is music,” Paul wrote. “You had to be super precise, because any mistake he would hear. He asked if we were going to use a drum machine, and I said no, so he got on the drum kit and he was a great drummer with a very distinct style, and that’s him playing on the record. The whole song is just me and Stevie.”
Paul had to wait for Wonder again to make their music video
When Paul and Wonder agreed to meet to make the music video for “Ebony and Ivory,” “it happened again.” Wonder was late.
Paul had everything booked with a team, studio, technicians, cameramen, and everybody else. Wonder was supposed to show up on a Monday morning, and he didn’t. Paul wrote, “Getting through to him was a challenge because it would go like this: ‘Mr. Wonder’s in the studio at the moment. I’m sorry, who is this?’
“‘It’s Paul McCartney. We know each other; we’ve worked together.’ ‘Oh, well, he’s working and he can’t be disturbed.’ So that went on and on and we were about a week late doing the video when he finally showed up. So yes, it was great to work with him, but there was always this being late thing, not being there. Which I wasn’t used to, I must say.”
The former Beatles knew ‘Ebony and Ivory’ wasn’t going to ‘solve the problems of the world’
Ultimately, Paul knew that his and Wonder’s “Ebony and Ivory” wasn’t going “to solve the problems of the world.” However, Paul thinks “its heart was in the right place.”
The former Beatle explained that it was typical that people made fun of it. He recalled Eddie Murphy’s skit about it on Saturday Night Live. “It’s the sort of thing that’s easy to send up,” Paul wrote. He also said some thought it was too sentimental or simplistic. However, the song did cause shock waves, being banned in South Africa.
Paul and Wonder have only performed “Ebony and Ivory” once at the White House when Paul received the Gershwin Prize. The good-natured tune wasn’t groundbreaking, but it felt like a big deal for Paul, who got to record with one of his friends and inspirations.
