Stevie Wonder =/= Michael Jackson
So this morning, I hear a lot of talk on the radio about the passing of Michael Jackson and the morning crew’s going around the studio, asking what everyone’s favorite MJ song was. The host says his favorite is “Black or White,” to which one of his co-horts replies that yes, “Black or White” was a much better song than “Ebony and Ivory.”
OH MY FUCKING GOD.
One might argue the point was being made that in terms of songs about blacks and whites getting along, that “Black or White” was the better of the two – for I thought the same thing for a moment – but trust me on this and make no mistake, the main point being made was that of the two Michael Jackson songs, “Black or White” was superior.
Frankly, I cannot abide “Ebony and Ivory” at all and have fat manned it off my computer. That’s how much I hate it (very much like “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles), which makes my great irritation over this mistake even that much more puzzling. I mean, I think I understand where the confusion might be coming from, since MJ worked with Paul McCartney very shortly after Stevie Wonder and McCartney did “Ebony and Ivory,” but come on…in a room full of people who know music by their own admission and discussion…and no one makes the correction?
So, I made it for them, lying in bed, talking to snapping at the radio at 545am: “It was Stevie Wonder who did “Ebony and Ivory” with Paul, you bloody idiots. STEVIE. FUCKING. WONDER.” Yeah, everyone makes mistakes*…but for a group of people with that much collective knowledge of popular music and popular music history to just let it go, over and over and over?
Dude, this is Stevie Wonder.
This is not.
* I made the mistake once of actually liking “Ebony and Ivory.”
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…but for a group of people with that much collective knowledge of popular music…
I dunno, Mick… the host who named “Black or White” as his favorite Michael Jackson song can’t be too knowledgeable! I mean, that song sucked — to the point that it’s only acceptable to say that it’s your favorite Michael Jackson song if it’s the only Michael Jackson song you’ve ever heard. And I honestly don’t believe that it’s really about the unimportance of skin color in the grand scheme of things — I think he wrote it to more/less trivialize his own obsession with plastic surgery and bleaching his skin.
At any rate, that song is vastly inferior to everything that came before it and marginally worse than everything that followed. (I guess stuff on that same album could theoretically be as good or better, though.) Perhaps poor Jacko’s heart broke when he realized that he released his last great song two decades ago?
But he is knowledgeable about music, as was the whole entourage. That’s what puzzled me about the entire thing. I like it, though it’s far from my favorite MJ song (I like what I know of the pre-Thriller music more and his work with Sir Paul); however, it does bring back fond memories of college. You could be right about the whole skin color angle of the song, in fact you’re probably onto something, but who really knows what was going on in Jacko’s mind? Really, who would want to know? All I know is that it’s tons better than “Ebony and Ivory.” Always. :-)