Okay, after watching The Graduate, I gained a new appreciation for this song. Now, some of the stanzas have no relation to the movie, which makes me think that a lot of the song (like many of their others) are metaphors for things going on at the time. However, since I was not incubated in that time, I don’t really pick up on a lot of it. What is your interpretation of the song and its meanings?
Plastics!
The song doesn’t seem to relate much to the movie.
In any case, am I the only one who finds Simon & Garfunkel’s entire repertoire extremely depressing?
Actually, they were working on the song around the time the movie was being made-the producers heard about this-that they were writing a song entitled, “Mrs. Robinson” and asked them to do the soundtrack, I THINK.
I’ll check the liner notes for “The Graduate” on my cd.
The way I used to explain the connection of the song “Mrs. Robinson” to the movie “The Graduate” to myself when I was younger:
After Benjamin and Elaine bolt from the church and take off in the bus, Mrs. Robinson has a nervous breakdown. The song is about her being committed to some sort of expensive psychiatric facility: “Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes, stroll around the grounds until you feel at home”.
The fact that some of the lyrics don’t seem to relate to the movie is just a reflection of her addled state of mind: things people are saying to her don’t necessarily make sense to her, because she is, well, crazy.
YMMV.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
I heard that when old Joe heard this line he said something like, “I haven’t gone anywhere!”
To me, the song is simply about angst-ridden middle class USA in the late 60s - I certainly don’t hear it as being specifically about the Robinson family in the movie.
Scott Evil Yes, depressing as anything. Attempts by S&G to be happy were always failures - like the wretched “Feelin Groovy”.
I vaguely recall hearing Paul Simon say that “Mrs. Robinson” was a re-working of a song he’d been working on under the title “Mrs. Roosevelt.”
He changed some of the lyrics a bit, to fit wth “The Graduate’s” themes of life in sterile, middle-class suburbia, but the song had little to do with the characters or plot of the film.
Quoth scott evil:
I dunno… A few of them seem… hopeful, at least.
On the Dick Cavett show, Paul Simon said he was just trying to come up with some good chase music. Oh, and he had like, one line (I think “and here’s to you, Mrs. Roosevelt”) and just kind of finessed it in. 
Tenebras
I also heard that Joe DiMaggio got kind of pissed about the “Where have you gone…” lyric, not realizing that it was meant as a tribute.
Yeah, S & G did have their share of depressing songs. On the “Sounds of Silence” album, side two starts off with TWO suicide songs! There is “Richard Cory,” about a rich guy who puts a bullet through his head. Then there is “A Most Peculiar Man,” in which a more anonymous, everyday person gasses himself to death.
call me al
“Lay Lady Lay” by Bob Dylan was originally intended for use in the film . I’m not sure what happened but “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel ended up being used instead.
Um, Richard Cory is a POEM. Paul Simon simply incorporated it into a song.
But, as for NOT depressing:
The 59th Street Bridge Song? HELLO?
Laughing Lagomorph-I like your interpretation.
The song, to me, was about loss of innocence and hypocrisy. Both “Mrs. Robinson” and the country at the time.
Yes, Joltin’ Joe was surprised that he was thought of as “past tense”, as it were. It was a key factor in his decision to do the Mr. Coffee commericials.
Micky Mantle, on the other hand, was unhappy that he wasn’t used in the song instead. To which Paul Simon replied:
“Syllables Mick. Syllables.”
S&G did a lot really great, happy songs. “America”, “At the Zoo”, etc. Sheesh. Even the “sad” ones aren’t if listening to them brings back memories of Good Stuff.
And I never got Robert McNamara’ed into submission.
Umm, that’s the Feelin’ Groovy that Hemlock was calling “wretched.”
Um, no. “Feelin Groovy” is simply the subtitle, but it’s REAL title is The 59th Street Bridge Song.
And it’s not “wretched.”
So ppphhhhbbblllttt!
Why, thank you. At least someone read it.
Some non-depressing Simon and Garfunkel songs that spring to mind for me are from the Bridge Over Troubled Water album: “Ceceilia” and “Keep the Customer Satisfied”. Even “El Condor Pasa” (I’d rather be a hammer than a nail) has an upbeat feel to it. Oh, and the song “Kodachrome”. And “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”. And I agree the 59th St. Bridge song isn’t wretched.
Best…five…second…bass…solo…EVER!
For the proverbial record, “Call Me Al” isn’t Simon and Garfunkel, it’s just Simon.
I always thought America was one of their most depressing songs. “‘Kathy,’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping, ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.’ Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, we’ve all come to look for America.”
Oddly enough, I find many of their most depressing songs are tinged with an element of hope…