Australian singles charts:
Mother and Child Reunion entered the Australian singles chart* on 6 March 1972 and peaked at #5. The song was #51 on the Top 100 of 1972.
Album:
The song is on Paul Simon which entered the Australian albums chart* on 20 March 1972 and peaked at #5.
Songwriter:
Paul Simon
Producers:
Roy Halee, Paul Simon
Record label of Australian release:
CBS
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
This was Paul Simon’s first single as a solo artist.
Simon wrote this in response to the Jimmy Cliff song Vietnam, where a mother receives a letter about her son’s death on the battlefield. Simon recorded Mother and Child Reunion in Jamaica using Cliff’s musicians, hence the very authentic sound. Simon said of the song that it “became the first reggae hit by a non-Jamaican white guy outside Jamaica.”
Simon came up with the title after seeing a chicken and egg dish called “Mother and Child Reunion” on the menu at 456 Restaurant in Chinatown, New York.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/paul-simon/mother-and-child-reunion
Lyrics:
No, I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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