Mother and Child Reunion

The lead single from Paul Simon (1972) was, at the time, one of the few songs by a non-Jamaican musician to use prominent elements of reggae. Simon listened to Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker and Byron Lee, and went to Kingston because Cliff had recorded Vietnam there in 1970. He cut the song at Dynamic Sounds Studios with Cliff's backing group, including Hux Brown on guitar and Jackie Jackson on bass, with Cissy Houston among the backing singers. It was recorded before the lyrics were written, which was unusual for him, and the piano and his vocal were added later in New York. The musicians taught him the differences among reggae, ska and bluebeat. He had tried to make Why Don't You Write Me, on Bridge over Troubled Water, sound Jamaican and felt it came out as a bad imitation.

The title came from a chicken and egg dish on a Chinese restaurant menu, and the lyric was prompted by the death of a pet dog, the first death he had experienced. Released on 5 February 1972, the single reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five in Britain, and was number one in South Africa. Cash Box wrote "Reggae sounds galore from Paul's debut as a solo" and called it "most assuredly a future Top 10".