When Paul Simon's eponymous second album appeared in 1972, this was the first single taken from it. It is a reggae song recorded in Jamaica and has impressive guitar and drum work. The title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon claims he saw on a menu in a Chinese restaurant. The lyrics were inspired by the death of a pet dog that was run over and killed, the first death Simon had personally experienced. It made him begin to wonder how he would react if the same thing happened to his wife at the time, Peggy Harper. "Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was" Simon told Rolling Stone at the time of its release. The song was recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios, Torrington Bridge, Kingston, Jamaica, with Jimmy Cliff's backing group. Guitarist Huks ("Hux") Brown and bass guitarist Jackie Jackson were also long-time members of Toots & the Maytals. Cissy Houston is one of the four backing singers. Unusually, Simon recorded the music first then wrote and added the lyrics subsequently. He had previously wanted to make "Why Don't You Write Me" – recorded with Art Garfunkel on Bridge over Troubled Water – sound Jamaican but it ended up sounding like a "bad imitation" and the idea was abandoned. Simon was instructed by the musicians during the recording on the differences between reggae, ska and bluebeat. He felt awkward at first being "the only white guy there" and an American. He later overdubbed piano and vocals to the track, back in New York.
