What is Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel about?

Question

What is Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel about?

Answer 1

Someone entering an insane asylum. The lyrics were altered to match the name of the character in the movie "The Graduate", for which Simon and Garfunkel were hired to produce the score, but the lyrics were not otherwise adapted to the movie.

Answer 2

It was written for the movie 'The Graduate'. According to Paul Simon (and he should know...) there is no real meaning behind the song aside from referencing the character in the movie.



Like a good many huge hit songs, the lyrics are more about creating images that seem to mean something, rather than being about something specific- another example is 'Black Hole Sun' by Soundgarden; the lyrics sound like they should be important, but it's really just a string of impressions.

Answer 3

it's about america in the 1950's.

"Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past — about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt." from wikipedia

Answer 4

Obvoiously this is well known from the context of the (great) film The Graduate.



The best explanation I heard about the lyrics of the song was that it's about the state of the USA at the time in the 60's.