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
Characters (Stevie Wonder album) at the ceremony. "Characters" received a nomination at the 31st Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, losing to Terrence Trent D'Arby's debut "Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby". To promote the album, Wonder performed a one-hour "Characters" special on MTV, in which he also performed unreleased material as well as a duet with Stevie Ray Vaughan. All songs written by Stevie Wonder except where noted. Characters (Stevie Wonder album) Characters is the twenty-first studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder released in late 1987. The album features three singles including "Get It", the Grammy-nominated "Skeletons" and