I just got done watching The Graduate and now I’m wondering whether the soundtrack was created for the film or if the film was created for the soundtrack.
And yes, as a soon-to-be PhD in chemistry, I know all about plastics.
I thought you said “Who…”
Never mind…
Soundtrack for the film.
That’s one helluva soundtrack. I’d say it’s better than the film.
It’s aged better than the film, certainly. At the time, though, the disparity wasn’t there.
Disagree, the soundtrack has become oversaturated. The movie, however, is still quite good, minus the dated audio/film quality.
The story is told, I believe in The Billboard Book of #1 Hits, that Mike Nichols asked Simon and Garfunkel to write some songs just for the film, and while they set about that task, he edited scenes to a bunch of their existing songs. By the time they came up with the soundtrack, Nichols liked the scenes using the existing tunes better than the new stuff, so he only kept the song “Mrs. Robinson”.
So most of the soundtrack came first, but the signature song was written while the film was in production.
Sorry, but what does this mean? It’s been played too much? Been around too long?
I’m 20 and saw The Graduate about a year ago and really liked it. I didn’t think it was dated at all, or at least not in a bad way.
The soundtrack was actually kind of annoying in the film though. It has a different version of Mrs. Robinson than the one that I usually hear and I don’t like it as much, and there are a few other songs that are used too many times in the film.
The short answer is, some of the songs were written specially for “The Graduate” and some were songs that Simon and Garfunkel had already recorded.
The most famous song, “Mrs. Robinson,” falls somewhere in between. Paul Simon had been working on a song about the 1940’s entitled “Mrs. Roosevelt.” He had hit a wall with that song and set it aside for a while. When Mike Nichols asked him to write some songs for his new movie, Simon dusted off “Mrs. Roosevelt,” changed some of the lyrics, and turned it into “Mrs. Robinson.”
The line about Joe Dimaggio was probably a holdover from “Mrs. Roosevelt.”
Are you trying to tell me that Eleanor Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio slept together?
Wasn’t much sleeping going on…nudge nudge
On second thought eeeeewwwwwww
Well, Eleanor probably wasn’t playing for Joe’s team, if you get my drift (nudge nudge again).
I have no way of knowing exactly what the lyrics to “Mrs. Roosevelt” were, but I don’t know that it matters. Eleanor Roosevelt and Joe Dimaggio were each, in different ways, icons of America in the 1940s. Perhaps the song was originally a nostalgia piece, or it may have been a somber reflection of how America had changed drastically from the 1940s to the 1960s.
I don’t think Simon was suggesting a personal link between Joe and Eleanor. It may have been more a suggestion that, not long ago, America was confident and strong and had heroes like Joe Dimaggio and Eleanor Roosevelt… whereas in 1967, America seemed lost and unsure of itself, and no longer had much faith in leaders or heroes.
Been played too much. When I watched the movie for the first time, it was nearly 30 years since it came out. I had heard all the songs forty million times before I had seen the movie. Having “Scarborough Fair” play 3 or 4 times throughout the movie only made it worse. If I had watched it back in the day, it would have been fresher or some such.
I remember Paul Simon gave an interview where he talked about Dimaggio’s reaction to the song, saying, “What do you mean ‘Where Have I Gone’? I make appearances on TV and I do the Mr. Coffee commercials, etc.” Simon found it charming that Joltin’ Joe wasn’t quite prepared to become an American metaphor.
Which fits in well with the line immediately preceeding (in the final version), about a candidates’ debate where either way you choose, you lose.
Apparently, the final form of “Mrs. Robinson” did not take shape until *after * the movie was done and printed, thus what we hear in the film is different from the single. The order would be (1) work-in-progress Mrs. Roosevelt (2) for the movie, re-adapted as Mrs. Robinson, BUT still a WIP; (3) Finished movie; (4) Finished single.
You watching a bad print?
It’s not always apparent, but it’s there. The filters used make it very 60’s/70’s. It can mostly be seen in flesh tones. See here . If it looks like that, it comes from that point in time.
The audio can only really be noticed at the extremes. When he screams, for instance, there is some clipping or something that makes it feel like it was recorded in a lunch box. Don’t know why, just know that it’s there.
I know this is an old thread, but I was looking for the answer myself, and I have to say, I was lucky in that I saw The Graduate for the first time in about '84, and had never heard any of the songs, so neither subtracts from the other. I love the film, even if it looks dated, it looks dated in a good way, and the music always reminds me of a time when I was you, and yes, in love.
So Scarborough fair, I can not listen to now without staring wistfully into space and remembering all the passion and yeanring of a softer age.
Mrs. Robinson was first released on The Graduate album in January of '68. It was also on the Bookends album (I think their best album) a few months later.