The Graduate

The Artist

Simon & Garfunkel were the New York folk-rock duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, childhood friends from Queens whose intertwined harmonies became one of the defining sounds of the late 1960s. Paul Simon wrote most of the songs, blending literate, introspective lyrics with delicate acoustic guitar work, while Garfunkel's high, clear tenor gave the material its unmistakable emotional weight. Dave Grusin, the other name on this soundtrack, was a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who would go on to a long career scoring films and leading his own ensembles. The Graduate arrived at a hinge point in Simon & Garfunkel's career, between Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and Bookends, and it helped catapult them from acclaimed folk act to cultural touchstone. For Grusin, the project was an early showcase for the light, jazzy sensibility that would define his film work.

The Album

Released in 1968 as the soundtrack to Mike Nichols's film, The Graduate is an unusual hybrid: a handful of previously released Simon & Garfunkel songs, some new fragments, and a suite of instrumental cues written and arranged by Dave Grusin. The Simon & Garfunkel tracks were drawn largely from their existing catalog, with "Mrs. Robinson" appearing here in two early, incomplete versions before it was finished for Bookends. Grusin's cues, scored for small jazz combo, were recorded to picture and reflect the film's Southern California setting: cocktail lounges, pool decks, and late-night drives. The record blurs the line between soundtrack and pop album, a format that felt novel in 1968 and helped establish the modern movie tie-in LP. Thematically, it mirrors the film's queasy comedy of drift, seduction, and youthful uncertainty.

Listen For

The two worlds of the record. Notice how the album alternates between Simon & Garfunkel songs and Grusin's instrumental cues. The contrast between folk-rock introspection and breezy lounge jazz is the album's central sonic tension.

Grusin's small-combo writing. On tracks like "The Singleman Party Foxtrot" and "Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha," listen for how Grusin uses vibraphone, brushed drums, and light horns to conjure a very specific mid-century Californian atmosphere.

The two "Mrs. Robinson" sketches. "Mrs. Robinson - Version 1" and "Mrs. Robinson - Version 2" are works in progress, missing the famous verses. Hear the song as scaffolding before it became an anthem.

Garfunkel's vocal on "April Come She Will". Barely two minutes long, it's one of the most delicate performances in the duo's catalog, a miniature carried almost entirely by his voice and Simon's fingerpicking.

Bookending with "The Sound of Silence". The record opens with the electric version that made them famous and closes with a reprise, framing the whole soundtrack in that song's uneasy hush. It gives the album a circular, dreamlike shape.