BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982
NEW 2020 Transfer!
Meticulously Remastered!
Originally posted March 18, 2012
“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 struggles issues of racial equality, the song reached number one on both the UK and the US charts. In 2013, Billboard ranked the song as the 69th biggest hit of all-time on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
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 popularized 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.
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.
SIDE A:
Ebony And Ivory 3:43
Vocals [Additional] – Stevie Wonder
SIDE B:
Rainclouds 3:08
Ebony And Ivory (Solo Vocal) 3:43
Vocals [Solo] – Paul McCartney
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Ebony And Ivory | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #1 |
1982 | Ebony And Ivory | U.S. Billboard US Hot Adult Contemporary Chart | #1 |
1982 | Ebony And Ivory | U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles | #8 |
1982 | Ebony And Ivory | U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream rock Tracks | #34 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Parlophone – 12R 6054
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1982
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
CREDITS:
Producer – George Martin
Written-By – McCartney*
NOTES:
A-Side: From The Album “Tug Of War”
Stevie Wonder courtesy of Motown Records Inc.
Find the 12″ at DISCOGS
VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
DAC/Phono Pre-amp: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Username: btg
Password: burningtheground
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