🍋 About the Song
“Mrs. Robinson” is one of those songs that somehow sounds cheerful even while it’s quietly judging everyone involved.
Written by Paul Simon for The Graduate (1967), it’s a sly anthem about suburban disillusionment, lost innocence, and a certain older woman’s “special friendship” with Benjamin Braddock.
But beneath the playful “dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee” is a melancholy slice of 1960s America — God, baseball, and the quiet collapse of idealism.
On ukulele, it keeps that bittersweet charm: bright, rhythmic, and a little cheeky.
🎸 Ukulele Playing Tips
We’ll play it in G major, the classic key for the song and perfect for uke voicings.
You’ll need G, Em, C, D, Am, and A7.
Verse progression: [G] – [Em] – [C] – [D]
Chorus: [C] – [Am] – [D] – [G] – [A7] – [D]
Strumming pattern: brisk down–down–up–up–down–up at around 100 bpm.
Keep it crisp and bouncy — it’s folk-pop, not folk-plod.
Try accenting beats 2 and 4 for that swinging Simon & Garfunkel groove.
Singing tip: Keep your delivery conversational. The verses are sly storytelling; the “dee-dee-dee” chorus should sound effortless and a bit ironic, like you’re smiling through someone else’s scandal.
💡 Trivia You Can Drop Casually
- Originally written as “Mrs. Roosevelt” before being repurposed for The Graduate.
- The film’s director, Mike Nichols, asked Simon for new material; this half-finished song became its centrepiece.
- The song hit #1 in the US in 1968 and won two Grammys.
- Joe DiMaggio famously asked, “What do I have to do with this?” — Paul Simon replied, “You’re a hero to a nation.”
- The “Jesus loves you more than you will know” line got the song banned from some U.S. stations in the late ’60s.
🌈 Final Word
“Mrs. Robinson” is the perfect mix of wit, wistfulness, and folk-pop bounce — a wink and a sigh in three minutes flat.
On ukulele, it’s irresistibly fun.
You can play it straight, or with the mischievous grin of someone who knows what happened in that California suburb.
