The meaning behind one of Paul Simon’s most enduring solo hits, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard,” is often difficult to place. The plucky folk tune—full of youthful innocence and rife with imagery that harkens back to Simon’s own adolescence—tells a story, but at the same time, it doesn’t.
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Delightful while at times nonsensical, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” leaves a lot of questions unanswered like “What exactly did mama see?” and “Why is it against the law?” But the beauty of the song is in its ambiguity, offering listeners the freedom to craft their own narrative from the tune.
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The Origins
Simon came of age in the borough of Queens in New York and a lot of his inner-city upbringing bled into “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.” There are mentions of Corona, a nearby neighborhood from his youth, and allusions to a concrete-tinged existence in and out of schoolyards and houses of detention.
In the shuffling tune, something goes awry, but what that is exactly, the song’s writer doesn’t even know. When asked what it was that “Mama Pajama” saw, Simon told Rolling Stone in a 1972 interview, “I have no idea what it is. Something sexual is what I imagine … I never bothered to figure out what it was. Didn’t make any difference to me.”
Instead, he recalled the tune just being a fun one to play. “First of all, I think it’s funny to sing—’Me and Julio’,” he said. “It’s very funny to me. And when I started to sing ‘Me and Julio,’ I started to laugh … I like the line about the radical priest. I think that’s funny to have in a song.”
The Lyrics
Opening on some unknown predicament, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” kicks off with mama pajama and papa alerting the authorities. The mama pajama rolled out of bed / And she ran to the police station, the song begins against the racing arrangement. When the papa found out he, began to shout / And he started the investigation. Whatever it is, the song assures, It was against the law / What mama saw / It was against the law.
Despite the introduction, the song follows two young boys, the song’s narrator and his presumed friend, Julio. It is assumed one or both of them are in some sort of trouble. Whenever the narrator’s name gets mentioned, mama spits on the ground and papa says, “Oy, if I get that boy / I’m gonna put him in the house of detention.”
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Whatever happened, the song’s chorus suggests an escape, like the accident was harmful enough to merit a speedy exit. The narrator must leave with no knowledge of where he’s headed, forced to say goodbye to a neighborhood hero, Rosie, the Queen of Corona.
Well, I’m on my way
I don’t know where I’m going
I’m on my way
I’m taking my time
But I don’t know where
Good-bye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
This move, however, doesn’t seem to work for the narrator and he gets caught. In a couple of days they come and / Take me away, the verse plays. But perhaps the narrator was wrongly accused and now someone has come to his aid. But the press let the story leak / And when the radical priest / Come to get me released / We was all on the cover of Newsweek.
With even more questions than answers, the chorus plays once more to close out the song in a snappy rhythm and scratchy strums. It may seem like an unsatisfying end to an otherwise catchy tune, but again the beauty of the song is in its ambiguity.
What story does your mind weave when “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” plays? Comment below.
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