Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel



Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson.
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away,
Hey hey hey.

About two weeks ago I said that "Born to Run" was the most American song of all time. I'm not changing my mind, but those lines above are the most iconic lyrics in American pop culture.

What is interesting about pop culture is that rarely looks to the past in a romantic way. Pop culture isn't nostalgic or longing for "way back when", instead it's about the here and now... you don't hear songs or watch movies about how great the 1970s or 1980s were. Instead we poke fun at the past and try to gain some sort of understanding of the culture then as how we got to where we are today. Sure, eventually what was popular becomes retro, but retroism isn't nostalgic. It's recycling--retroism is just trying to modernize what was cool into the present, in other words it's attempting to be cool in the present by using something that might have been somewhat forgotten.

But Simon hit on something with those lines. Simon turned DiMaggio into a nostalgic hero AND a pop culture icon. DiMaggio was no longer just a great baseball player who was married to Marlyn Monroe at one point; now he was an iconic figure and a nod to the past, a Christ like figure of late 60s popular culture (and still today). When you hear the song, you don't wonder where Joe DiMaggio went, because we all know that isn't important. We are looking for the Joe DiMaggio hero.

So how does this tie in to 1968? Simon wasn't writing the song for the times and the year itself, it was written well before everything that was to happen happened in 1968. But that's probably what fueled the song's success. In a time where everything in American society was being turned on it's head, Joe DiMaggio became the Father of pop culture. We're all searching for Joe DiMaggio, still today, in our culture. The figure that unites us and brings us closer to our past... or as Terence Mann said:
"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."

And THAT is what Paul Simon turned Joe DiMaggio into--a reminder of all that once was good and could be again. That's what Joe DiMaggio is... the Father of Pop Culture.