DJ: Hello and welcome back to Friday Music World on another brilliant Friday afternoon.
This afternoon, we bring you two great songs about peace, harmony, and healing. We have Michael Jackson on tap along with Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. So let’s start the afternoon with “Ebony and Ivory.”
Ebony and Ivory
Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?
We all know that people are the same wherever we go There is good and bad in everyone,
We learn to live, we learn to give
Each other what we need to survive together alive.
Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?
Ebony, ivory living in perfect harmony Ebony, ivory, ooh
(Repeat 1 & 2)
Ebony, ivory living in perfect harmony
("Ebony and Ivory" sung by Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder)
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DJ: You just heard “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. This is a song about racial harmony using piano keys. The black keys on the piano are ebony, and the white ones are ivory—the song asks why we all can’t live together in perfect harmony like the keys. Paul McCartney wrote this song, and his message was clear:
People of all types can live together. He liked the piano image, since we can play the piano using just the white keys or just the black keys, but to make great music, we have to combine them.
You are listening to Friday Music World. Coming up next is a song sure to give you inspiration to heal the world: “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson. I think he is one of the greatest performers in music history.
Heal the World
There’s a place in your heart And I know that it is love And this place could
Be much brighter than tomorrow And if you really try
You’ll find there’s no need to cry In this place you’ll feel
There’s no hurt or sorrow There are ways to get there If you care enough for the living Make a little space
Make a better place ...
Heal the world
Make it a better place For you and for me
And the entire human race There are people dying If you care enough For the living
Make a better place For you and for me Heal the World
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DJ: "Heal the World" is a song from Michael Jackson's hit album Dangerous. Jackson said this was the song he was most proud to have composed. He also created the Heal the World Foundation to teach children how to help others. Let's hear his vision for this foundation in his own words.
"Our goal is to change the world. To make it a better place for everybody. Starting with the children. You know sometimes I feel so guilty when I have dinner or breakfast because I realize how so many people don't have those simple things that we so much take for granted. So I think it's important to help out as much as you can. ..."
DJ: Today, I hope you have a chance to think about peace, harmony, and healing for all human beings. That's all for now. Goodbye and please don't forget to tune in to Friday Music World at the same time next week. Thank you.
Supplementary Reading THE CELLIST OF SARAJEVO
Vedran Smailović was a cellist in the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the early 1990s, life was difficult for the people of Sarajevo, as the Bosnian War broke out. They struggled to find food and water while the war was taking many innocent lives.
On May 27, 1992, people were waiting at one of the still functioning bakeries. A bomb landed in the middle of the line, killing 22 people. Smailović lived close to the bakery and was shocked by what he saw. He felt powerless as he was neither a politician nor a soldier. But as a musician, he felt he could speak truth to the heart beyond any language.
Smailović took his cello to the spot where the people had been killed. He began to play Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor. People gathered to listen. When he was finished, he packed up his cello and went to a coffee shop. People quickly came up to him expressing their appreciation, telling him, "This is what we needed." Smailović kept playing for 22 days, one day for each person killed. Bombing continued around him, but Smailović never stopped playing.
After that, he did what he knew best to help the city: he played his cello at funerals, in bomb shelters, and in the streets. Later, he was known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo," a symbol of artistic resistance to the madness of war.
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