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Black or White (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel song)

"Black or White"
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Black or White Single German Cover.jpg
Single by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
from the album Timeless Flight
B-side "Mad, Mad Moonlight (Live)"
Released 14 November 1975
Format 7"
Genre Pop, rock
Length 5:43
Label EMI Records
Songwriter(s) Steve Harley
Producer(s) Steve Harley
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel singles chronology
"Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)"
(1975)
"Black or White"
(1975)
"White, White Dove"
(1976)
"Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)"
(1975)
"Black or White"
(1975)
"White, White Dove"
(1976)

"Black or White" is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1975 as the lead single from the band's 1976 studio album Timeless Flight. On occasions, the song has been titled "Black or White (And Step on It)". It was written and produced by Harley.

After the success of their 1975 album The Best Years of Our Lives, which spawned the UK number-one single "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", the band soon returned to the studio in the summer of 1975 to record their next album Timeless Flight. "Black or White" was recorded, remixed and cut at Abbey Road Studios, London. It features a 10-piece choir, made up of members of the band and other backing vocalists, including Madeline Bell, Yvonne Keeley and Barry St. John. The song's strings were arranged by keyboardist Duncan Mackay.

Preceding the album, "Black or White" was released as the lead single in November 1975. Despite the band's success earlier in the year, the song failed to reach the UK Top 50, which in turn gave the UK's music press the chance to predict Harley's commercial eclipse. However, "Black or White" did reach No. 2 on the BMRB's UK Breakers Chart on 22 November 1975 (which would be equal to No. 52 on the UK Singles Chart, at a time when the national singles chart only ran to the Top 50). Speaking to Record Mirror & Disc in 1976, Harley commented: "I knew it was either going to be massive - top three - or a complete stiff. It turned out to be a stiff." Later in 2011, Harley added: "They didn't get it in the right shops at the right time and promote it properly."

"Black or White" was inspired by the 1925 poem The Hollow Men by British poet T. S. Eliot. Talking to The Observer in 1976, Harley revealed that T. S. Eliot was a big hero to him, and that he nicked the form of "The Hollow Men" for the song.


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