Mrs. Robinson

The story behind *Mrs. Robinson* is fascinating, and it begins before the song even had a definitive form. Originally, Paul Simon was working on a piece he intended to call *Mrs. Roosevelt*, inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt. However, film director Mike Nichols, who was in the midst of filming *The Graduate*, heard fragments of this musical idea. Nichols, who had already been captivated by the music of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, insisted that he wanted something new for his film. After rejecting two songs that Simon presented to him, Nichols returned to the charge, and it was then that the duo showed him an early version of what would become *Mrs. Robinson*. The anecdote recounts that, at first, the song had no lyrics and they used loose syllables to fill the gaps, and it was in that context that the name "Mrs. Robinson" began to take shape, fitting the character in the film.

The full version of *Mrs. Robinson* saw the light of day on April 5, 1968, released by Columbia Records. It was produced by the duo themselves along with Roy Halee. This track not only became the duo's second number one on the Billboard Hot 100, but also reached the top positions in countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. Its impact was such that, in 1969, it made history by being the first rock song to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The lyrics include a mention of baseball star Joe DiMaggio, a detail that adds to the richness of the composition. The album Bookends, released in April 1968, is the main context for this song, although it also appeared in the soundtrack of *The Graduate* in shorter versions.