Any of you know this song?
Chorus:
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Whoa-oh-oh
God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey-hey-hey
The verses say something about getting to know the grounds, and feeling at home. I don’t remember all the words.
My question: what does this song mean? I really don’t get it.
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!
Feeling old. This song is Mrs. Robinson, by Simon and Garfunkel. It was the theme song for the movie The Graduate. Rent the movie and listen to the song.
“You can be smart or pleasant. For years I was smart.
I recommend pleasant.”
Elwood P. Dowd
A lot of drugs were donw during the '60s, and it was fashionable to say disparaging things about middle-class values.
Also, the “God Bless You” part is an internal reference to the sneeze in the song. (Goo-goo-ga-choo, Mrs Robinson)
It’s “Mrs. Robinson”, by Simon and Garfunkel, and later done by the Lemonheads, on their album It’s a Shame About Ray. It originally comes from the movie The Graduate; try giving it a look see and determine if you get any new meanings out of it.
We interrupt this thread to increase
dramatic tension.
It’s from “The Graduate” with Dustin Hoffman.
As to what it means, who knows. Mrs. Robinson was an older woman who seduced him but the rest of the stuff I think Simon and Garfunkle just threw in because it sounds good. Joe Dimaggio is not in the movie.
It’s a great movie, with one of the best lines ever, "one word ________ " anybody?
Well, it was written by Simon and Garfunkel. It was used in the film, “The Graduate”. I cannot remember if it was written specifically for that soundtrack, but it sure fits nicely. I just checked, and it’s not on “Sounds of Silence”, or “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. Might be on “Wednesday Morning, 3:00 AM”.
It’s a song about lost ages, lost innocence. Passage of time, etc. Of course, they threw in lots of goodies, like the Joe D. line. But, if you listen a few times, the theme ( to me, anyway ) seems to be a longing for lost youth. For a time when things were not so complex, not so violent, not so brutal.
Great film, worth the rental if you haven’t seen it in years ( or,if god forbid, you have never seen it). Look for Richard Dreyfus’ first screen appearance. :)Anne Bancroft is eerily powerful. I happen to love the movie, and I was a wee lad when it was released, I’ve never seen it projected.
Cartooniverse
If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel.
My WAG: it is about the loss of innocence, hence the Joe diMaggio line. HE represented the good old days.
<h1>Plastic</h1>
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
I always thought the song was about how the generation before Simon’s was able to fool themselves into believing that the world was a lot simpler than it really was. The social turmoil of the '60s, of course, proved the folly of such a belief, but still there were people like Mrs. Robinson who clung to it despite what was going on around them. Joe Dimaggio’s retirement was the crack in the illusion that would lead to full awareness and probable insanity.
BTW- The song has nothing to do with the chacter in “The Graduate”.
Actually, the word was “Plastics” - as in the industry, not the material in particular.
And yes, you can put a hyphen in anal- retentive.
Some mornings, it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
– Emo Phillips
Well, god. I opened that posting, and as far as MY screen showed me, there were NO responses yet. Apologies all around if my posting seemed to simply mimic the answers provided by my fellow Teeming Millions…I guess we all hit this one around the same time.
Cartooniverse
If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel.
The song only appears in the last few scenes of THE GRADUATE…as Dustin Hoffman is rushing down to disrupt Katharine Ross’s wedding, I believe.
And the soundtrack version is a shorter and more manic treatment than the one everyone’s familiar with, which appeared on the S&G album BOOKENDS.
I never had any idea of what the hell it meant, and will be following this thread with great interest.
And yeah, thanks loads, Cessie, I feel like a goddamn dinosaur now, too.
Uke
Uke, I’ve, uh got some bad news for you. You are a goddamn dinosaur now, too. Sorry to be the bearer.
Livin’ on Tums, vitamin E and Rogaine
Paul Simon’s songs are often obscure. The “hay, hay, hay” stands for parsley, sage,
and rosemary.
<font color=#FCFCFC>Haven’t Got Time For The Reign
rocks</font>
I was hoping that RM Mentock would tear into manhattan for me, but it looks as though he hasn’t got the thyme.
Uke
BTW, the song was written long before Joe DiMaggio became famous as Mr. Coffee. IIRC, he had some other claim to fame …
Unfortunately, now he truly has “left and gone away.”
Hey Uke, did you know Paul McCartney was in another band before he was in Wings?
(My kids: Wings? Was there a band called Wings?)
I’m a vegetarian once removed. I only eat meat from animals that are vegetarians.
DrFidelius wrote:
Side note:
Unless I’m mistaken, the “goo-goo-ga-choo” sound is also the sound made by Humpty Dumpty when he sneezes, just before falling off the wall in one of the Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland books. (I think, but am not certain, that it is spelled coo-coo-ca-chew in the book. Don’t have it in front of me. Also don’t remember whether it was in Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass)
Incidentally, the phrase also appears in the song “I am the Walrus” by the Beatles.: “I am the Eggman…I am the Eggman…I am the Walrus… Coo-coo-ca-choooo…”
As for the meaning of “Mrs. Robinson”, I seem to remember an interview with Paul Simon wherein he stated that the song contained a lot of nonsense lyrics, which didn’t have any deeper meanings. (The Joe DiMaggio lyric being one example.) Now maybe he was throwing the interviewer a curveball ;), but who knows?
I always assumed that in the song, Mrs. Robinson had some sort of drug or alcohol problem. “Most of all you’ve got to hide it from the kids,” “Put it in the pantry with your cupcakes,” “It’s a little secret, just the Robinsons’ affair,” “Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home.” All these verses to me suggest a drug or alcohol problem, including a stint of rehab.
“Every time you think, you weaken the nation!” --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).
The correct spelling for this line would be “Goo goo g’joob.”
Which, of course, when played backwards, says “Paul’s been slain in a bloody car crash.”
– Tyrannosaurus Uke
I’m only 29, and I aged about 10 years reading that OP. Has anyone ever hear the song??? Yipes…
Zette
(listening to her creaking joints)
Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.
Not enough and you’re gonna die…
Click here for some GOOD news for a change Zettecity
Everyone who suggested that I rent a movie just to hear this song, I’ve got it on CD. It’s just that the CD is at home, and I have a terrible memory, so I didn’t know the singer or all the words.
I don’t know why this should make any of you feel old; it’s one of my favourite songs. I just didn’t get it. And frankly, I still don’t.
I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!