"Mother and Child Reunion" is a song by Paul Simon on his album, Paul Simon (1972), his first solo album after Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was released as a single on February 5, 1972, reaching #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts, and was one of the earliest songs by a white musician to feature prominent elements of reggae.
The song was inspired by Simon's grief over the death of his family's dog, while he has said that the title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu. James Benninghof writes that Simon predicts the title event, the "mother and child reunion," while the second verse describes the effect of what happened on "the strange and mournful day," but without making clear what it was.
The song was recorded in Jamaica with singer Jimmy Cliff's backing group. Guitarist Huks ("Hux") Brown and bass guitarist Jackie Jackson were also long-time members of reggae legends Toots & the Maytals. Cissy Houston, mother of singer Whitney Houston, sang background vocals on this song.
Read more about Mother And Child Reunion: Personnel, In Media, Charts
Famous quotes containing the words mother and/or child:
“Always the same old story—
Father Time and Mother Earth,
A marriage on the rocks.”
—James Merrill (b. 1926)
“If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen, that it may live
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,
Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt, that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)