Song Lyric Sunday – Joe diMaggio

I almost chose this song a couple of weeks ago as my theme song for a movie, The Graduate. However, Mrs. Robinson, by Simon and Garfunkel, fit the challenge for Song Lyric Sunday this week as it mentions someone famous. Former NY Yankee, Joe DiMaggio.

Regarding the famous line, “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?”: DiMaggio was a star baseball player for the New York Yankees who was briefly married to Marilyn Monroe. Simon was using him to represent heroes of the past. DiMaggio was a little miffed when he heard this, since he was still very much alive even though he retired from baseball in 1951, but he realized that he had become a new icon now with the baby boomer generation due to this song’s success.

Simon, who is a huge fan of The Yankees, explained in a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine: “The Joe DiMaggio line was written right away in the beginning. And I don’t know why or where it came from. It seems so strange, like it didn’t belong in that song and then, I don’t know, it was so interesting to us that we just kept it. So it’s one of the most well-known lines that I’ve ever written.”

Paul Simon was a much bigger fan of Mickey Mantle than Joe DiMaggio. On The Dick Cavett Show, Simon was asked by Mantle why he wasn’t mentioned in the song instead of DiMaggio. Simon replied, “It’s about syllables, Mick. It’s about how many beats there are.”

When DiMaggio died in 1999, it was a very emotional event for many baseball fans who grew up watching him play. The part of this song that mentions him summed of the feelings of many people who felt there was no one left to look up to. Simon wrote an editorial about DiMaggio in The New York Times shortly after his death.

Lyrics
Mrs. Robinson
Simon & Garfunkel

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
 Jesus loves you more than you will know 
 Whoa, whoa, whoa
 God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
 Heaven holds a place for those who pray 
 Hey, hey, hey
 Hey, hey, hey

 We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files
 We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
 Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes
 Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

 And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
 Jesus loves you more than you will know 
 Whoa, whoa, whoa
 God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
 Heaven holds a place for those who pray 
 Hey, hey, hey
 Hey, hey, hey

 Hide it in the hiding place where no one ever goes
 Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
 It's a little secret just the Robinson's affair
 Most of all you've got to hide it from the kids

 Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mrs. Robinson
 Jesus loves you more than you will know
 Whoa, whoa, whoa
 God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
 Heaven holds a place for those who pray
 Hey, hey, hey
 Hey, hey, hey

 Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
 Going to the candidates' debate
 Laugh about it, shout about it
 When you've got to choose
 Every way you look at this you lose

 Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
 Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
 Woo, woo, woo
 What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
 Jolting Joe has left and gone away
 Hey, hey, hey
 Hey, hey, hey

 Source: LyricFind
 Songwriters: Paul Simon
 Mrs. Robinson lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group