Level: 2
Tuning: Standard

Released as a single off Paul Simon's first solo album ("Paul Simon," 1972), "Mother and Child Reunion" went to #4 on the US pop charts. Like many of Simon's songs, this one is wide open to interpretation. He got the title from the name of a dish on a menu in a Chinese Restaurant. Recorded in Jamaica with Jimmy Cliff's band, the song has a Reggae flavor. This key of C arrangement employs a galloping fingerpicking style; the first few bars have what Pete Seeger used to call a "bum-ditty" rhythm, and this carries throughout the backup of the chorus. During the verse, the accompaniment has a "boom-chick" style: the thumb alternates bass notes, while the index finger brushes up on a chord after each bass note. The solo (an instrumental version of the chorus) is different: the thumb plays monotone bass notes while the fingers play melody on the treble strings, but with no strictly repeated pattern.