Ebony and Ivory Quotes

Context

This line is from the song "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (from McCartney's album Tug of War, 1982).

In 1982, twenty-seven years before the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder ushered in a new era of post-racial America with their song "Ebony and Ivory."

These two colors, black and white, were "liv[ing] together in perfect harmony." But only on the keyboard…this song dropped two years after race riots in Miami.

Where you've heard it

• Terry Crews and the equally buff Jimmy Fallon stripped down for a cover of this song in 2014.
• If you're a video game player, the pistols wielded by Dante in the games series Devil May Cry may have familiar names.
• This collaboration was parodied on SNL by Eddie Murphy.
• A book on the history of race and American universities is called Ebony and Ivy.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

We love the sentiment.