Mrs. Robinson Lyrics

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About

Genius Annotation

During the filming of the 1967 film The Graduate, director Mike Nichols, who had become a fan of Simon & Garfunkel’s work, asked for permission to use their music in the soundtrack, and for them to write a new song. Originally, they pitched “Punky’s Dilemma” and “Overs”, but after Nichols rejected them, they showed him what became “Mrs. Robinson”.

“Mrs. Robinson” was originally titled “Mrs. Roosevelt”, and had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of The Graduate, however when director Mike Nichols said he needed another song for his movie, Paul Simon told him that they were too busy touring and that he only had “a song about times past, about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff,” but it wasn’t finished yet. It was originally a tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt and the passing of an era; a more innocent era to be exact.

When Nichols realized “Mrs. Roosevelt” had the same number of syllables as “Mrs. Robinson”, he asked Simon to change the title and the song “Mrs. Robinson” was born.

An early, shorter version of the song is what’s included in the film. The complete song debuted on Bookends, a few months after the release of the film soundtrack. As the song already existed before being included in the film, there’s no apparent connection between them; the lyrics suggest a mental hospital setting where Mrs. Robinson lives. Some critics consider it an epilogue to the film.

“Mrs. Robinson” was released as a single in April 1968, and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, while it also helped to keep The Graduate soundtrack as #1 on the Billboard 200 for about a month and a half, until Bookends superseded it. The song won the 1969 Grammy for Record of the Year as well.

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