# Ridiculed by song

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 21, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992 "2018-08-21T18:24:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonzo_John_Blitz)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992/1 "2018-08-21T18:24:18Z")

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In the long, appalling history of woe mine barely makes the needle jig; but it is mine nonetheless.

I remember my mother, crying, suitcase in hand, flying out the front door and down the stairs of the porch where I was playing with my two brothers. We stopped mid-play, wailed or muttered some half–formed words I don’t recall.

The wind wrapped her long black coat around her and whipped her hair into spastic commas.

I never saw her again.

That’s hard cheese when you’re five.

There’s more to the story of course, but that’s a tale for another time and speaks of an angry, abusive husband with a tenuous grasp of the truth and an arrogant, unfounded sense of self-worth.

About nine or ten years later we heard that she had put a bullet through her head. Hard cheese indeed.

And then in 1972 when Paul Simon released “Mother and Child Reunion” it struck a chord and brought me to trembling weepery on more than one occasion.

So imagine my chagrin when I learned:

```
QUOTE – PAUL SIMON

```

_“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.”_

I laughed my fucking ass off.

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**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992/2 "2018-08-21T18:59:07Z")

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> [@Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](#):
>
> I laughed my fucking ass off.

I believe you. But your post is so sad and depressing that I find it impossible to laugh along with you. ☹

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**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992/3 "2018-08-21T19:05:22Z")

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Yeah, and I thought ‘Lucy in the sky with Diamonds’ was about me. Imagine my despair when I found out it wasn’t.

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992/4 "2018-08-24T22:16:21Z")

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_Nevada, California_ - **The Jayhawks**

The first few lines are about my wretched life.

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculed-by-song/819992/5 "2018-08-24T22:22:48Z")

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Can I just say that “whipped her hair into spastic commas” is brilliant? I’m definitely stealing that one.

ETA: Unfortunately, not for a song. But the OP should write one!