Ebony and Ivory "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 popularised 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. Written by McCartney alone, the song
Here Today (Paul McCartney song) Here Today (Paul McCartney song) "Here Today" is a song by Paul McCartney from his 1982 album "Tug of War". McCartney wrote the song about his relationship with and love for John Lennon, who had been murdered less than two years before. He stated the song was composed in the form of an imaginary conversation the pair might have had. The song was produced by The Beatles' producer George Martin. Although not released as a single, the song reached #46 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. When the song was written Lennon had not yet been dead for a year.