Mother and Child Reunion

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Mother and Child Reunion is a song written by Paul Simon, and is on his eponymous debut album. It was released as a single from the Paul Simon album and reached #4 on the American charts.

While the lyrics deal with an actual mourning situation, the title occurred to Simon when he looked at a menu offering a combination of chicken and eggs in the same dish. The tune is up beat and jolly.

This song is considered to be one of the first attempts at reggae music by a white musician. The name has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish which Paul Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu, that was named just like this "Mother and Child Reunion." The song has been interpreted as a meditation on death, specifically the death of a mother and the hope of reunification in the afterlife. The references to a "sad and mournful day" may support this theory.

Cissy Houston, mother of singer Whitney Houston, sang background vocals on this song.