# Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031 "2004-07-14T05:24:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/1 "2004-07-14T05:24:51Z")
I seem to remember reading that someone (Gore Vidal? Norman Mailer?) suggested that this song was an account of a childhood homosexual tryst, and Paul Simon’s response was something like “I don’t know what his childhood was like but mine wasn’t like that.” Google doesn’t help. Does anyone know more about this? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/2 "2004-07-14T05:31:08Z")
I think that may have been Vidal. Simon apparently said he didn’t know that it was about. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/3 "2004-07-14T15:42:42Z")
I don’t think you’ll find [any consensus as to what it’s about](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=138504&highlight=julio+schoolyard), if anything. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/4 "2004-07-14T15:56:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think that may have been Vidal. Simon apparently said he didn’t know that it was about. If I remember correctly, in Simon’s 1972 Rolling Stone interview he was asked “what the mama saw,” and his response was something like “I don’t know. Something sexual, I imagine.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/5 "2004-07-14T16:04:08Z")
I always sort of guessed that that Paul and Julio were smoking pot down by the school yard and that’s what the mama saw that was against the law. Sex never occurred to me before I read this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/6 "2004-07-14T16:07:43Z")
As an addendum to my post above, I would like to add that a lot of pot heads (as I was for many years) tend to interpret all kinds of songs, movies, books, etc. as being secretly about getting high. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/7 "2004-07-14T16:08:24Z")
You know those fantasies you have, like, if you ever met a certain celebrity, the conversation you’d have? It had always been one of mine to meet Paul Simon, and say, “All right, it’s been more than 30 years. I have _got_ to know. What the hell were you and Julio doing down by de schoolyard!!!” But now he says he doesn’t know. Wanker. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/8 "2004-07-14T16:10:09Z")
I had a conversation just this past weekend about what it could possibly be that Paul and Julio were doing down by the schoolyard. Possibilities included selling drugs, selling porn, and having sex. Then it occurred to us that most likely, the “radical priest” mentioned in the third verse probably wouldn’t be campaigning for the release of drug dealers/pornographers/homosexuals. What strikes me funny now is that my friend and I, both longtime pot smokers, didn’t even _think_ that that’s what they could have been doing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/9 "2004-07-14T16:16:41Z")
How can he not know? Didn’t Simon write the song and lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/10 "2004-07-14T16:30:37Z")
I always thought the singer was sleeping with the underage Rosie, gets caught, has to run away rather than go to the house of detention, agrees to meet his friend Julio down by the schoolyard, and is saying goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona. Corona, by the way, is a neighborhood in Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City, quite close to where Paul Simon (and I, not that that matters for this discussion) grew up. It had (when I was growing up, not sure about Simon) a large Latin population, hence the names “Rosie” (presumably a nickname for “Rosa”) and “Julio”. ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/11 "2004-07-14T16:51:32Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > I always thought the singer was sleeping with the underage Rosie, gets caught, has to run away rather than go to the house of detention, agrees to meet his friend Julio down by the schoolyard, and is saying goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona. > > Corona, by the way, is a neighborhood in Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City, quite close to where Paul Simon (and I, not that that matters for this discussion) grew up. It had (when I was growing up, not sure about Simon) a large Latin population, hence the names “Rosie” (presumably a nickname for “Rosa”) and “Julio”. That’s a pretty thorough explanation. 🙂 I like it! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/12 "2004-07-14T17:29:26Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > I always thought the singer was sleeping with the underage Rosie, gets caught, has to run away rather than go to the house of detention, agrees to meet his friend Julio down by the schoolyard, and is saying goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona. > > Corona, by the way, is a neighborhood in Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City, quite close to where Paul Simon (and I, not that that matters for this discussion) grew up. It had (when I was growing up, not sure about Simon) a large Latin population, hence the names “Rosie” (presumably a nickname for “Rosa”) and “Julio”. I always interpreted that as a bit of double entendre. “Rosie” is also slang for the hand, as used in masturbation. Back in the day (the70s) the slang used to be “I have a date with Rosie tonight,” meaning I don’t have a date at all, but will be spending the evening with my rosy palm. And “corona” in addition to being a neighborhood near Queens is also a term for the tip of the penis. So when the singer is saying “Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona,” I took it to mean he no longer needs to masturbate, since he’s found a new source of pleasure in Julio. So in other words, I think it’s a homosexual tryst song. Which would explain why the mother and father are so mad, and why a radical priest gets involved. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/13 "2004-07-14T17:42:57Z")
I read some old threads here and according to [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=1887546&postcount=3) it was Truman Capote, not Vidal or Mailer. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/14 "2004-07-14T17:59:31Z")
Look, there’s a simple way to resolve this debate. Does anyone know which issue of Newsweek featured this as the cover story? ---
**Author:** ![Coelacanth\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Coelacanth\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coelacanth_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/15 "2004-07-14T18:17:55Z")
> [@](#): > > **Originally posted by LMM** > Corona, by the way, is a neighborhood in Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City, quite close to where Paul Simon (and I, not that that matters for this discussion) grew up. It had (when I was growing up, not sure about Simon) a large Latin population, hence the names “Rosie” (presumably a nickname for “Rosa”) and “Julio”. Isn’t there a hot dog/papaya stand in Queens named Queen of Corona or King of Corona or Corona King that has benn around since the 50’s? > [@](#): > > **Originally posted by The Devil’s Grandmother** > How can he not know? Didn’t Simon write the song and lyrics? Its often the case that lyricists (and poets) write words that have no concrete meaning even to themselves. They write for the sounds of the words themselves and for the visceral emotion that phrase elicits. The resulting ambiguity ends up being more than a side-effect, however, by adding more mystery, depth, absurdity, or profundity to the piece as a whole. Simon says he didn’t have anything specific in mind - of course he might be lying. It may be personal to him, or he might just want to keep people guessing in order to give an air of mystery to the song. I personally don’t think he had anything in mind because the context of the entire song wouldn’t make sense. Why would two boys having sex, or smoking pot, or masturbating make the cover of Newsweek? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/16 "2004-07-14T19:25:28Z")
> [@Coelacanth Soup](#): > > Isn’t there a hot dog/papaya stand in Queens named Queen of Corona or King of Corona or Corona King that has benn around since the 50’s? Could be. I’m familiar with (and have been since I was a child in the sixties) the Lemon Ice King of Corona, but that was ices, not hot dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/17 "2004-07-14T19:28:57Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I always interpreted that as a bit of double entendre. > > “Rosie” is also slang for the hand, as used in masturbation. Back in the day (the70s) the slang used to be “I have a date with Rosie tonight,” meaning I don’t have a date at all, but will be spending the evening with my rosy palm. And “corona” in addition to being a neighborhood near Queens is also a term for the tip of the penis. > > So when the singer is saying “Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona,” I took it to mean he no longer needs to masturbate, since he’s found a new source of pleasure in Julio. > > So in other words, I think it’s a homosexual tryst song. > > Which would explain why the mother and father are so mad, and why a radical priest gets involved. Seems to be a bit of a stretch to me. I mean, really, mom and dad are going to be mad enough when they catch the singer sleeping with, and possibly knocking up, their daughter. And Simon is definitely a writer identified with New York, and a former resident, or near-resident, of the neighborhood in question. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/18 "2004-07-14T20:17:18Z")
> [@Coelacanth Soup](#): > > Its often the case that lyricists (and poets) write words that have no concrete meaning even to themselves. They write for the sounds of the words themselves and for the visceral emotion that phrase elicits. The resulting ambiguity ends up being more than a side-effect, however, by adding more mystery, depth, absurdity, or profundity to the piece as a whole. My partner wrote a song where one of the chorus lines is “One piece of leather to tie me down”–she gets more questions about that one line than everthing else she’s written (3 CDs full). Her answer: it’s just a song! It doesn’t mean anything![/hijack] > [@Coelacanth Soup](#): > > Why would two boys having sex, or smoking pot, or masturbating make the cover of Newsweek? Ah, but they didn’t make the cover until “radical priest come to get me released”–that’s where the news is: they got out of jail free. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/19 "2004-07-14T20:27:58Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Ah, but they didn’t make the cover until “radical priest come to get me released”–that’s where the news is: they got out of jail free. But before the radical priest comes “the press gives the story ink.” I’m in the it doesn’t mean anything camp myself. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031/20 "2004-07-14T21:01:52Z")
Here ya go. Feel free to dissect. Artist: Paul Simon Lyrics Song: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Lyrics The mama pajama rolled out of bed, and she ran to the police station When the papa found out, he began to shout, and he started the investigation It’s against the law, it was against the law What the mama saw, it was against the law. [LYRICS DELETED BY MODERATOR] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-down-by-the-schoolyard/255031.md?page=2)