Paul McCartney
Ebony and Ivory

No, this is not a review of the famous ballad sung with Stevie Wonder. A ballad never loved by yours truly, very cheesy and too '80s. Take the 45 rpm, side B: "Rainclouds". There are at least a couple of reasons why this b-side, forgotten by most, is historically important.

It's the last song by Wings to be released; the group's name doesn't appear on the record because they split in April 1981, but it's essentially the last song recorded and completed under that name. But above all, "Rainclouds" was worked on by McCartney on December 9, 1980, the day after the murder of his friend John Lennon. Paul was informed on the morning of the tragic disappearance; he had recording sessions scheduled with George Martin and Denny Laine, working on the successor to "Back to the Egg" (1979). Paul had big plans for that project, a double album and a world tour. But the recordings were not the easiest, losing drummer Steve Holley along the way, and Laurence Juber distanced himself before December. Wings were reduced to a trio again by the end of 1980, as they were in '73. In fact, it was George Martin who suggested to Paul to remain with just three members for the new album. The recordings initially produced "Ode to Koala Bear" and some other bases later used. On December 9, Paul showed up at the studio as if nothing had happened, intending to perfect and finalize the recording of a ballad written with Laine, the arrangement he had in mind being something very British. Only Laine and George Martin were in the studio; Linda was not present. The song is pleasant, very Scottish with a contribution of bagpipes from Paddy Maloney, and flows very swiftly. There is a vague sense of rain, the measured rhythm makes one perceive its regular fall but it is a minor episode in the group's repertoire. Recording chronicles report that the session was interrupted, Paul left earlier than planned and went home.

Those who attended remember that McCartney appeared shaken and disturbed and certainly did not fully realize what had happened. It was only while working with Carl Perkins on the song "Get It" months later, which was then included in what had meanwhile become officially McCartney's third solo album "Tug of War", that Paul fully processed the grief and, as testified by Perkins himself, cried in the comfort of Linda's sympathetic presence. The abrupt end of a friendship was an important trauma for McCartney, who felt it more than Harrison and Starkey. Paul had just recently reestablished full relations with John, even suggesting that he go back on tour in 1981 in small theaters, a suggestion Lennon accepted, indeed leaving the musicians that day by setting an appointment for January to begin rehearsals, and had been pleasantly surprised by the compliments for "Coming Up".

For Paul, the '80s were a decade marked by many production errors and creative crises, and 1980 would be a particularly terrible year between the drug arrest in January and John's death. It would take a return to rock'n'roll and a new artistic collaborator to rekindle his creative flame.