On February 5, 1972 Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" was released as a single from the album "Paul Simon." One of the song's core lines, "I cant for the life of me remember a sadder day" was inspired by the death of Simon's dog, however the name of the song came from a more unlikely source. Paul Simon reveleaded the inspiration in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1972,
"Know where the words came from on that? You would never have guessed. 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, 'Oh, I love that title. I gotta use that one.'"
The true meaning of the song is not completly clear although SImon did provide some more detailed information.
Last summer we had a dog that was run over and killed, and we loved this dog. It was the first death I had ever experienced personally. Nobody in my family died that I felt that. But I felt this loss one minute there, next minute gone, and then my first thought was, "Oh, man, what if that was [my wife] Peggy? What if somebody like that died? Death, what is it, I can't get it." And there were lyrics straight out forward like that. The chorus for "Mother and Child Reunion" well, that's out of the title. Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was. Some emotional connection. It didn't matter to me what it was. I just knew it was there.
-Professor Walter
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away, oh, little darling of mine.
I cant for the life of me
Remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
But it just don’t work out that way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again
No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away, oh, little darling of mine.
I just cant believe its so,
And though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low
In such a mysterious way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again
But I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
When the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away,
Oh, oh the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away
Oh the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a moment away
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Child_Reunion
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/mother.asp
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/paul+simon/mother+child+reunion_20105909.html
Comments