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Paul McCartney had an interesting time working with Stevie Wonder on their song, “Ebony and Ivory,’ in 1982. The former Beatle said he had to be “super precise” around the virtuoso because he heard every mistake.
Paul McCartney had to wait a long time before Stevie Wonder showed up to make ‘Ebony and Ivory’
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.”
Paul made the demo in Scotland in his little studio there. Shortly after, he decided to call Wonder to see if he wanted to do something together. The pair have known each other for a long time. They first met in 1966, after a 15-year-old Wonder played a show in London.
When Paul called the child prodigy about collaborating, they were thinking about writing something together. However, Paul told Wonder he had “Ebony and Ivory.” Wonder agreed to record it.
Paul and Wonder agreed to meet at Monserrat, where producer George Martin had a recording studio. Although, Paul had no idea how long it’d take for Wonder to show up.
Paul wrote that 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.”
Paul said he had to be ‘super precise’ around Wonder when they made ‘Ebony and Ivory’
When Wonder finally showed up, Paul said it was great. Although, he had to be careful of messing up because Wonder heard every mistake.
He wrote, “It was fascinating because he is such a musical monster; he just is music. 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.”
The former Beatle had to wait again for Wonder 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.
“It 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,” 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.”
In the end, Paul knew that “Ebony and Ivory” wasn’t going “to solve the problems of the world, but I think its heart was in the right place. People made fun of it, of course. Some thought it was too sentimental or simplistic, perhaps. Eddie Murphy did a skit about it on Saturday Night Live. It’s the sort of thing that’s easy to send up.” However, the song did cause shock waves, being banned in South Africa.
The first and so far only time Paul and Wonder performed “Ebony and Ivory” was at the White House when Paul received the Gershwin Prize. “Ebony and Ivory” might not have been groundbreaking, but it was a miracle Paul and Wonder collaborated in the first place.
