Mrs. Robinson

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"Mrs. Robinson" is a song by Simon and Garfunkel that appears in the motion picture The Graduate (1967) and on their album Bookends (1968).

"And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,

Jesus loves you more than you will know"

In the film, listless recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has an affair with an older married woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). The song was not completed for the film; only snippets are heard as incidental music. When the film and the music became popular, Paul Simon put the snippets together into a complete song.

According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the May 15th, 2005 issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Larry Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had only written one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past — about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."

Audio sample: ["Mrs. Robinson" (23 seconds)]

The lines:

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you"

are perhaps the most memorable. Paul Simon, a fan of Mickey Mantle, was asked on The Dick Cavett Show by Mantle why he wasn’t mentioned in the song instead of DiMaggio. Simon replied, "It's about syllables, Mick. It's about how many beats there are."

For himself, DiMaggio initially complained that he hadn't gone anywhere, but soon dropped his complaints when he realized that he gained new fame with baby boomers because of the song.

In a New York Times editorial in March 1999, shortly after DiMaggio's death, Simon explained that the line was meant as a sincere tribute to DiMaggio's unpretentious heroic stature, in a time when popular culture magnifies and distorts how we perceive our heroes. He further reflected: "In these days of Presidential transgressions and apologies and prime-time interviews about private sexual matters, we grieve for Joe DiMaggio and mourn the loss of his grace and dignity, his fierce sense of privacy, his fidelity to the memory of his wife and the power of his silence." Simon subsequently performed a live version of Mrs. Robinson at Yankee Stadium in DiMaggio's honor in April of the same year.

The song was used in the 1999 film American Pie, in a scene with similar younger man/older woman overtones to the original scenes in The Graduate.

Cover versions

Frank Sinatra covered a tongue-in-cheek version of this song for his 1969 album My Way. This version changes a number of lines, including replacing "Jesus" with "Jilly" (Sinatra's close bartender friend) and including a new verse directly referring to Mrs. Robinson's activities in The Graduate:

The PTA, Mrs. Robinson,

Won't okay the way you do your thing

Ding ding ding.

And you'll get yours, Mrs. Robinson,

Foolin' with that young stuff like you do

Boo hoo hoo, woo woo woo.

A notable cover version of this song was recorded and charted by the '90s musical group Lemonheads. This version can be heard in a scene in American Pie 2, featuring two characters similar to those in the original movie; it is also used in Wayne's World 2 in scenes spoofing Benjamin's rush to the church.

Soul band Booker T & the MG's also made a cover version of the song, but was never released as a single. Their version of the song is without vocals.

Stadium rockers Bon Jovi recorded the song on one of their live performances. The song was included on the limited edition bonusdisc of their 1995 These Days album.

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External links

[Paul Simon's tribute in the New York Times]

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