The Graduate (Album)

The Graduate
Soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel
Publication (s)	January 21, 1968
Label (s)	Columbia Masterworks
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	Folk rock
Title (number)	14th
running time	36 min 48 s
occupation	Paul Simon , Art Garfunkel
production	Teo Macero
chronology Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) The Graduate Bookends (1968)

The music album The Graduate by Simon & Garfunkel is the soundtrack for the film of the same name, which was released in German-speaking countries as the final exam . In addition to songs by Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon , compositions by Dave Grusin can be heard. The album was produced by Teo Macero and was released in January 1968. In April of that year it reached number one on the US album charts .

Emergence

See also : Making of Mrs. Robinson

Eight of the fourteen tracks on the album are by Simon & Garfunkel, the rest by film composer Dave Grusin. The contributions of the folk duo are songs that were written by Paul Simon or, in the case of the folk tune, Scarborough Fair / Canticle arranged. Three of them are twice on the album in variations, so that a total of five songs by Simon & Garfunkel provided material for the album. Of these, four had already been released on studio albums in 1966: The Sounds of Silence and April Come She Will on Sounds of Silence ; Scarborough Fair / Canticle and The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme . Only Mrs. Robinson was a new Simon & Garfunkel song.

Originally Paul Simon was supposed to write three new songs for the film at the request of director Mike Nichols . Nichols had a soft spot for the music of Simon & Garfunkel and wanted to use it in his film, but saw difficulties incorporating old songs by the duo. It was similar with the two new songs Punky's Dilemma and Overs , which Simon Nichols introduced. Ultimately, Simon developed the Mrs. Robinson theme from an unfinished draft . The soundtrack album contains two parts, each about 1:15 minutes long, which differ significantly, also in terms of the text, from the four-minute version that was published in April 1968 on the Bookends album and as a single .

Track list

page 1

1. The Sounds of Silence (Simon) - 3:06
2. The Singleman Party Foxtrot (Grusin) - 2:53
3. Mrs. Robinson (Simon) - 1:15
4. Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha (Grusin) - 2:54
5. Scarborough Fair / Canticle (Interlude) (Garfunkel, Simon) - 1:42
6. On the Strip (Grusin) - 2:00
7. April Come She Will (Simon) - 1:51
8. The Folks (Grusin) - 2:28

Page 2

1. Scarborough Fair / Canticle (Garfunkel, Simon, Traditional) - 6:22
2. A Great Effect (Grusin) - 4:07
3. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine (Simon) - 1:46
4. Whew (Grusin) - 2:12
5. Mrs. Robinson (Simon) - 1:13
6. The Sounds of Silence (Simon) - 3:07

Publication and charts

The album was released on January 21, 1968. On April 6 of that year, it topped the US Billboard 200 album charts . After seven weeks this place was available at Bookends , the next studio album by Simon & Garfunkel, which was released on April 3rd. After three weeks, The Graduate returned to the top position on May 25, only to be replaced by Bookends after two more weeks . Simon & Garfunkel were at the top of the US album charts for a total of 18 weeks in a row. For over two million copies sold, the album was awarded double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America .

The European markets recorded the album differently. It was represented in the British charts for 68 weeks and reached third place as the best placement. In contrast, the album did not appear in the German , Austrian and Swiss charts.

Web links

• The Graduate on the Simon & Garfunkel website
• The Graduate at Allmusic (English)
• The Graduate at Discogs (English)
• The Graduate at MusicBrainz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Bart: The perfect pic alignment . In: Variety . May 15, 2005 ( article online at variety.com [accessed February 24, 2012]). Article online ( Memento of the original dated August 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Marc Eliot: Paul Simon: A Life . 2010, ISBN 978-0-470-43363-8 , pp. 89 ff . ( online ).
3. ↑ Simon & Garfunkel Billboard Albums. In: Allmusic . Retrieved April 7, 2012 . 
4. ^ RIAA Database. Recording Industry Association of America , accessed April 10, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Simon & Garfunkel. Official Charts Company , accessed February 8, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Albums by Simon & Garfunkel. In: charts.de. Media Control , accessed April 6, 2012 . 
7. ↑ Albums by Simon & Garfunkel. In: austriancharts.at. Retrieved April 6, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Simon & Garfunkel. In: hitparade.ch. Retrieved April 6, 2012 .