Paul McCartney Had Multiple Scheduling Issues With Stevie Wonder While Recording ‘Ebony and Ivory’
“Ebony and Ivory” is one of Paul McCartney’s biggest songs, and credit also needs to be given to Stevie Wonder. Wonder and McCartney were an excellent duo, but it almost didn’t happen as scheduling conflicts worried McCartney about whether Wonder would actually arrive. Fortunately, everything turned out ok, but Wonder kept the former Beatle guessing.
Paul McCartney named ‘Ebony and Ivory’ after keys on a piano
Paul McCartney tended to stray from social or political messages in his solo career. However, he decided to write a track that called for social unity between different races. “Ebony and Ivory” was the main single from his 1982 album, Tug of War. The title referenced black and white keys on the piano, which was not-so-subtle symbolism for black and white people.
In archival footage shared on his YouTube page, McCartney explained that he needed to find an “ebony” to his “ivory”, so he called Stevie Wonder, and the Motown singer was interested.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll be the ivory, so I need an ebony,’” he said. “So I thought the best choice would be Stevie Wonder – if I could get him. So I telephoned Stevie and said, ‘Do you like the idea of doing this?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’”
Paul McCartney had multiple scheduling issues with Stevie Wonder
In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney reflected on his experience working with Stevie Wonder. McCartney said he was a “precise” musician who could hear the slightest error in any song. While McCartney had no trouble recording with Wonder, he had problems getting the “Superstition” singer to appear.
“So there was a lot of phoning,” McCartney said. “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. [He’d say] ‘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.”
Wonder had similar scheduling issues while trying to plan for the “Ebony and Ivory” music video.
“[The music video] was booked with the team and the studio and technicians, cameramen and everybody, and Stevie was supposed to show up on the Monday morning or whatever it was, and he didn’t,” McCartney explained. “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.'”
The former Beatle said this continued until Wonder arrived a week later.
“So yes, it was great to work with him,” McCartney added. “But there was always this being late thing, not being there. Which I wasn’t used to, I must say.”
How did ‘Ebony and Ivory’ perform on the charts?
“Ebony and Ivory” reached No. 1 in the U.K. and on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. McCartney has nine No. 1 singles in his solo career, and “Ebony and Ivory” remained at the top for seven weeks, the longest of any of his songs. However, his collaboration with Michael Jackson, “Say Say Say”, remained on the chart for the longest at 22 weeks.
