Paul Simon – Mother and Child Reunion

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I'm gonna make a chicken gumbo
Toss some sausage in the pot
I'm gonna flavor it with okra
Cheyenne pepper to make it hot
You know life is what we make of it
So beautiful or so what
I'm gonna tell my kids a bedtime story
A play without a plot
Will it have a happy ending?
Maybe yeah, maybe not
I tell them life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what

I'm just a raindrop in a bucket
A coin dropped in a slot
I am an empty house on Weed Street
Across the road from a vacant lot
You know life is what you make of it
So beautiful, or so what

Ain't it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what

Four men on the balcony
Overlooking the parking lot
Pointing at a figure in the distance
Dr. King has just been shot
And the sirens long melody
Singing savior pass me not
Ain't it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So beautiful

Send "Mother and Child Reunion" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Girlsdontgocrazy

Track duration: 03:07

"Mother and Child Reunion" as written by Paul Simon

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Mother and Child Reunion song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:In re: to Paul Simon's Mother and Child Reunion... I’m positive this isn’t Paul Simon’s interpretation…but I’ve always (since the ‘70’s) interpreted the song in a personal way. I was adopted over 60 years ago in a closed record state…and, after a long and convoluted search, I did find my birth mother in 2007. She requested no contact. This year she passed away without me ever talking with her, or seeing her. It was indeed a sad and mournful day.
    Flag IClaudiaon October 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Just a great song...being reunited with mother and child. One of Simon's best.
    Flag fivefortypmon February 09, 2012   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:The music to the song is quite catchy, and to my mind, it induces the listener to want more. The variation in rhythm is magical, but the lyrics do not seem to have a unity of meaning. The phrase "mother and child reunion" has all sorts of connotations, and one wonders what Paul Simon means by it, notwithstanding the fact that "mother and child reunion" is a soup item in a menu !I t is a convoluted song with respect to meaning, which is to say it leaves the listener nonplussed, even though its one of my favourites, as I loved my mother !
    Flag Stekazon March 27, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I've always thought of this being a dying mother consoling her son/daughter on her death bed. The mother does not wish to cover up the painful truths of life to her child by not giving her child false hope. She urges them not to mourn even though they say let it be it just doesn't always work out that way. Though now it may be painful, with time there is healing and one gains deep wisdom as they progress through life, wisdom that the mother possesses and tries to pass on to her child. While it may be seem to be pessimistic it hides a deeper sense of positivity and inspiration to guide her child through this time with her unwavering bravery in the face of death and the unshakable faith that they will be united as the mother and child reunion is only a moment away. I've read a couple other interpretations of this line hinting at it being suicide, which I never considered but disagree with. This 'moment away' hints at the very shortness of human life which passes away in the blink of an eye which will then reunite them as the 'course of a lifetime runs over and over again' repeating an endless cycle.
    Flag magicbus1990on December 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song is about suicidal depression. How can everyone miss that? That's what 'only a motion away' means. The guy's totally depressed. He misses his deceased mother. He's looking over the course of his lifetime and feeling mysteriously deeply down. One pull of the trigger, one swallow of the pills, one flick of a knife, one step off the building and "Hello, Mom, did you miss me?"
    Flag funkywinkerchickenon August 16, 2009   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:Regarding the musicians on this track, Paul Simon was so embarrassed at the feeble attempt at "white reggae" that he had previously written in the form of "Why Don't You Write Me" that he decided to go to Jamaica and record this track using genuine reggae musicians. Only the piano and backing vocalists were added afterwards in the USA.
    Flag butterfingersbeckon March 07, 2008   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:Basically, it's about a father whose wife has just died, and he tells his child that he/she will see his/her mother again in heaven. For me, it's that simple.
    I like the Beatles breakup theory, though.
    Flag Johnny0225on February 15, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've read what Simon has said about it in interviews regarding the chinese menu thing, but i always heard it as being about the break up of the Beatles. There are a number of references to Beatles lyrics ("little darling" from "Here Comes the Sun" and Paul singing "I know they say 'let it be." Along with that, the mother and child reunion is Yoko and John, John having made no secret of his maternal attachment to Yoko my comparing her to his mother in "Julia" and his nickname for her, Mother Superior."

    No, I would not give you false hope (of the beatles reuniting
    on this strange and mournful day (of the Beatles' breakup)
    But the mother and child reunion is only a motion away (john and yoko marriage and subsequent life together)
    oh little darling of mine (here comes the sun)
    I can;t for the life of me remeber a sadder day (the break up)
    I know they said let it be (they being the Beatles)
    but it just don't work out that way
    and the course of a life time runs over and over again.

    I just can't believe it's so,
    and though it seems strange to say
    I've never been lad so low
    in such a mysterious way ( about the shock and sense of loss at the Beatles break up)
    Flag papkeron January 17, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It's chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one." -Paul Simon

    Source: brainyquote.com
    Flag msrmx350on June 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've heard the dog story, too. kind of trivializes what I had thought was a really deep song. Have you heard the New York Voices version of the song? amazing!
    Flag jonothon77on May 29, 2007   Link

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