Columbia 9529
Producers: Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Roy Halee
Track listing: Bookends Theme (Instrumental) / Save the Life of My Child / America / Overs / Voices of Old People / Old Friends / Bookends Theme / Fakin’ It / Punky’s Dilemma / Mrs. Robinson / Hazy Shade of Winter /At the Zoo
May 25, 1968
7 weeks (nonconsecutive)
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were working on their fourth album, Bookends, when filmmaker Mike Nichols asked them to score his film The Graduate. “Mrs. Robinson” was the only new Simon & Garfunkel song on the album, and arguably the most popular. It was featured twice in the film and on the soundtrack, but the completed version of the tune wasn’t unveiled until April 1968 with the release of Bookends.
Following Garfunkel’s suggestion, Simon agreed to change his song-in-progress “Mrs. Roosevelt” to “Mrs. Robinson,” named after the character portrayed by Anne Bancroft in The Graduate. The duo showed Nichols the chorus, with the line, “Jesus loves you more than you will know.” Garfunkel recalls, “The sarcastic edge was just right. Mike loved the chorus. Paul never finished writing the verses during that time, so in the movie you just hear the ‘dut-da-duts,’ but the chorus exists. When the film came out, we were back in the studio finishing the album, so the rest of the song got written after the film’s release.”
“Punky’s Dilemma” was written specifically for The Graduate, but wasn’t used in the film because Nichols fell in love with the way previously released Simon & Garfunkel songs worked in the film. “That was supposed to be used in the scene when Dustin’s character is at home, finished with college, floating in the pool and wondering what to do with his future,” says Garfunkel. “Paul wrote, ‘Wish I was a Kellogg’s Cornflake/Floatin in my bowl. . ., ‘ but Mike didn’t quite go for it. I remember him saying, ‘Can you make it into a funeral dirge just to give it an odd twist?”‘ Instead, “Punky’s Dilemma” appears on Bookends as a dreamy folk-pop number.
Bookends also includes three previously released singles that hadn’t yet appeared on an album: “A Hazy Shade of Winter” climbed to number 1 in December 1966 (a cover by The Bangles would reach number two in 1987). “At the Zoo” reached number 16 in April 1967; and “Fakin’ It” stalled number 23 in August 1967.
Those songs, combined with full version of “Mrs. Robinson” and number of new tracks, were enough to push Bookends to Number One in its fifth week on the chart, temporarily displacing The Graduate for seven weeks. In fact, Bookends and The Graduate held the top two positions for eight consecutive while “Mrs. Robinson” reached Number One on the Hot 100 on June 1, and help- the top spot for three weeks.
On March 12, 1969, Simon & Garfunkel won three Grammys. “Mrs Robinson” was named record of the year and best contemporary pop performance by a duo or group, while The Graduate won best original song written for a motion picture.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of May 25, 1968
1. Bookends, Simon & Garfunkel
2. The Graduate, Soundtrack
3. The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, The Monkees
4. The Beat of the Brass, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
5. Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin