# God Bless You, Please, Mrs. Robinson **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959 "2000-02-04T16:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/1 "2000-02-04T16:42:00Z")
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. * * * [Cessandra](http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/miscjunk/profile.html) I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids! ---
**Author:** ![PUNdit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@PUNdit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PUNdit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/2 "2000-02-04T16:44:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/3 "2000-02-04T16:44:00Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![Flypsyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Flypsyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flypsyde)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/4 "2000-02-04T16:45:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/5 "2000-02-04T16:47:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/6 "2000-02-04T16:51:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/7 "2000-02-04T16:51:00Z")
My WAG: it is about the loss of innocence, hence the Joe diMaggio line. HE represented the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/8 "2000-02-04T16:51:00Z")
\Plastic\ * * * Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination. ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/9 "2000-02-04T16:52:00Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![Jett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@Jett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jett)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/10 "2000-02-04T16:57:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/11 "2000-02-04T16:57:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/12 "2000-02-04T17:02:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/13 "2000-02-04T17:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Ukulele Ike: > \*\*And yeah, thanks loads, Cessie, I feel like a goddamn dinosaur now, too. > > \*\* **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 ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/14 "2000-02-04T17:45:00Z")
Paul Simon’s songs are often obscure. The “hay, hay, hay” stands for parsley, sage, and rosemary. \Haven’t Got Time For The Reign rocks\ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/15 "2000-02-04T17:56:00Z")
I was hoping that RM Mentock would tear into manhattan for me, but it looks as though he hasn’t got the thyme. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/16 "2000-02-05T06:01:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/17 "2000-02-05T06:51:00Z")
**DrFidelius** wrote: > [@](#): > > Also, the “God Bless You” part is an internal reference to the sneeze in the song. (Goo-goo-ga-choo, Mrs Robinson) 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). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/18 "2000-02-04T19:51:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by spoke-: > 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…” 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 ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/19 "2000-02-04T19:54:00Z")
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](http://www.binghamtonpress.com/binghamtonnews/local/Sanews5.html)[Zettecity](http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959/20 "2000-02-04T19:59:00Z")
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. * * * [Cessandra](http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/miscjunk/profile.html) I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-bless-you-please-mrs-robinson/6959.md?page=2)