The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
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
The mama looked down and spit on the ground
Every time my name gets mentioned
The papa said, "Oy, if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention"
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
Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Whoa, in a couple of days they come and take me away
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
And 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
Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
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
The mama looked down and spit on the ground
Every time my name gets mentioned
The papa said, "Oy, if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention"
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
Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Whoa, in a couple of days they come and take me away
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
And 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
Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Seein' me and Julio
Down by the schoolyard
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit, edited by Schlermie
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Lyrics as written by Paul Simon
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Some interesting comments. I don't think it's about any particular focus so much as teenage rebellion. What the mama actually saw doesn't really matter as much as it was against the law. The two kids could have been messing around, drinking, handling stolen goods (petty theft is sometimes a teenage dare), but they were pushing the boundaries and breaking the law. Mama spits because the narrator, in here eyes, has corrupted her child (in reality they might have been equal partners). Every parent knows someday children lose innocence and adolescence is that period where the children themselves begin to force the issue with experiment. To the parents it can seem like the Apocalypse, they just hope no harm is done during the transition. Of the narrator, he knows he crossed the boundaries and is about to pay; papa wants to put him in a house of detention and he's on his way to one, "taking his time", serving his sentence, ruefully looking back at the familiar, the place and friends he's leaving, "goodbye Rosie, Julio, the schoolyard".
In general the song is pretty upbeat so I'm guessing the sentence is a pretty short one in a juvenile correction center. It's like a rite of passage in someways where innocent world of the child, the rebellious one of the teens is bent back into shape and the conformity of adulthood. Back in the day it was written that conformity would have probably shaped as a blue collar job, a wife, family of his own, the world Springsteen paints in My Hometown before the factory shuts....
Not claiming that's definitive, just a few ideas.