Paul Simon Deconstructs 'Mrs. Robinson' | The Dick Cavett Show

when you're recording now are you I gather that you're kind of a perfectionist and that you find it hard to get it right I mean where it's right where you want it well they come there comes a point when that's it yeah you say I I accept that that's close enough it's very difficult to translate the song that's written on the guitar to the finished record in the case of bridge over troubled water I always knew that I wanted it to be a piano yeah I always knew I never wanted to be played on the guitar and I never bothered to work out the guitar part and I knew that I wanted it to be for Artie and not for me to sing and so I never bothered to transpose it into a key that I could sing it do you like to listen to your records does it mean anything to you to hear them yes it's each song means whatever whatever I was like when I wrote it I don't listen to the records very often though how'd you get involved in the Graduate mrs. Robinson how did that come a bit oh I ran into Mel Brooks the other day yeah he said I had no idea how miserable that song had made his life his wife is in office so everywhere they went is and pointing like best enough yeah yeah the Graduate Mike Nichols called yeah and asked he said he had a book and he was gonna make a film and it's called the Graduate and he sent us the book and he was in the midst of the film then he was almost finished and he convinced us to do the music and the music was supposed to be mostly original music but what would happen is that in order to fill up a scene we would take some piece of music and put it there just to hear what music would sound like and a few of the times that we did that it was so effective particularly Scarborough Fair which I thought that worked very well and movie some Barbara ferrocene mrs. Robinson was made up on the spot that was originally supposed to be that was a chase scene and they wanted guitar music and I was playing oh I didn't know what I was playing I was just riffing on guitar [Music] things like that I was just playing a fill and it wasn't working and I had been fooling around with a song that was I was singing to you mrs. Robinson Jesus smells more you will know for no particular reason I had nothing in MA just came into your head yes please just into my head whoa whoa whoa and then the next line was god bless you please mrs. Roosevelt heaven holds in place for those who prayed it was mrs. Roosevelt and then he said well little element didn't want in there and that's how that happened and since there was nothing but that chorus and no words and we made it up on the spot we sang [Music] [Music] dtdt I'm used to you [Music] Jesus not smart you will and TAS it on the Roosevelt [Music] so that said and then the actual recording of that song was done after the movie was finished the the hit of the song the song that became a hit was after the film oh yes how did Joe DiMaggio get in there was he playing catch with mrs. Roosevelt in your movie it's very pleasurable to write in a stream-of-consciousness style and very often you find that what it what's in your mind is relevant although at the moment it doesn't seem so and so as I was writing I I had no idea that I would say that but I but I said where have you gone Joe DiMaggio a nation turns its lonely eyes to you and then the next line I didn't have but I made up one and I put it in and then I asked myself later what it meant and I said well it means something it will mean something [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The Dick Cavett Show

Views: 535,960

Rating: 4.9548783 out of 5

Keywords: The Dick Cavett Show, Talk Show, Musician, Celebrities, Dick Cavett, United States, Chat Show, Interview, paul simon, paul simon interview, paul simon dick cavett, simon and garfunkle, art garfunkle, the graduate, mrs robinson, mrs robinson the graduate, paul simon mrs robinson, paul simon song, paul simon songwriting, mrs robinson acoustic, how to play mrs robinson, paul simon the dick cavett show, paul simon 1970, simon and garfunkle mrs robinson

Id: sDqIsuIpVy4

Length: 5min 28sec (328 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 03 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/theroguehero]

He seems so genuine and I love it. It doesn't seem like he's doing the interview to get anything out of it, or promote anything. It's almost like he doesn't belong there.

[u/ya_i_did_that]

that is one hell of a combover

[u/Hersey62]

Look at him! Just wow.

[u/50micron]

IAAL: Bizarrely, when DiMaggio heard the song his first instinct was to consult with his lawyer to sue Paul Simon. His thought was that he hadn’t gone anywhere— i.e. the song implied he was dead and he was upset by that. It took much effort by DiMaggio’s lawyer to convince DiMaggio that it was not an insult but that Simon had actually paid him the highest of complements. lol Often times a good lawyer can show his quality in convincing a client what arguments should NOT be made. ... I honestly didn’t intend this but I just realized that this is partly why I’m so disappointed in Alan Dershowitz... sorry to inject politics.

[u/redblade8]

The Mel brooks part is awesome.