Welcome to the song of the day, where we feature a single track, whether its brand new or older than us, overlooked or overplayed, our favorite or no one’s favorite; as long as its interesting, it can be the song of the day.
On this day 19 years ago, Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio succumbed to lung cancer at his home in Hollywood, Florida. In honor of number 5, our song today is “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel.
In the New York Times shortly after DiMaggio’s death, Paul Simon described meeting the Yankee legend and clearing up the reference in the song, originally written for the 1967 Dustin Hoffman-starring film, The Graduate, and later included on the duo’s penultimate album, Bookends: “I said that I didn’t mean the lines literally, that I thought of him as an American hero and that genuine heroes were in short supply. He accepted the explanation and thanked me. We shook hands and said good night.”
Simon is currently on his farewell tour, having announced his retirement in September of last year. In a letter to his fans, he said he feels his career has come to a natural end, and after this tour he anticipates “doing the occasional performance in a (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particularly those whose objective is to save the planet, ecologically.”