Donald Tmp Lov ‘Y.M.C.A,’ the ‘Gay Natnal Anthem’

Contents:

• HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!
• IS Y.M.C.A. REALLY A GAY SONG? THE MEANG OF THE LYRICS
• 'Y.M.C.A.,' THE SPORTS ANTHEM ABOUT A GAY CISG SPOT: LYRICS AND MEANG
• FROM YMCA TO BLOOM: CHARTG THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY ANTHEM
• TMP EXPLAS HIS LOVE OF ‘Y.M.C.A.,’ WHICH HE CLAIMS IS THE ‘GAY NATNAL ANTHEM’
• THE TOP 75 MOST INIC GAY ANTHEMS DERVG OF THE TLE OF BEG CALLED THE "GAY NATNAL ANTHEM"

HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!

” Though, today, you’ll hear the track at everythg om a school dance to a 50th anniversary party, has also been adopted by the gay muny as one of s unofficial anthems.

IS Y.M.C.A. REALLY A GAY SONG? THE MEANG OF THE LYRICS

The songs targeted a niche rerd buyg dience: gay disthequ and their patrons.

'Y.M.C.A.,' THE SPORTS ANTHEM ABOUT A GAY CISG SPOT: LYRICS AND MEANG

The tl were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat); “San Francis (You’ve Got Me)” (the Wt ast’s premier gay statn); “Village People” (a look at the habants of New York Cy’s largely gay Greenwich Village); and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star), ” the promise of artistic acplishment the word’s entertament pal. Village People nsisted of six members, each of whom personified a popular gay archetype.

Only Willis and Rose participated on the “Village People” LP–wh Rose roly creded as “Felipe ‘Indian From the Anvil’“ (the Anvil was a gay NYC sex club). The gay msagg their songs, the gay fantasy stripper-stum, the gay dancg and fx macho posturg seemed to go over the heads of the dience–or they jt didn’t re. “Key Wt” (a gay rort statn), “Jt a Gigolo, ” “I Am What I Am” (a gay claratn), and “Sodom and Gomorrah” reached their re dience–but the sgle “Macho Man” reached further.

An energetic chant song whose lyrics extoled the male form, exercise and gym culture, “Macho Man” was heard by straight dienc as ls gay and more sports/athletics/ol-du fun mic.

FROM YMCA TO BLOOM: CHARTG THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY ANTHEM

Neteen seventy-ne’s double entendre-tled “Cs’” (referencg gay cisg) h stor jt seven months after “Macho Man.

” was not a “gay” song, but “a song for everyone. Addnally, lyrics like “lger on the siwalk where the neon signs are pretty” and “someone who is jt like you and needs a gentle hand to gui them along” were tac vatns for a gay listeng dience.

TMP EXPLAS HIS LOVE OF ‘Y.M.C.A.,’ WHICH HE CLAIMS IS THE ‘GAY NATNAL ANTHEM’

” was more than a h rerd, was a cultural tone: a world anthem built on, for, and about gay life and sensibili that was, neverthels, fully embraced by mastream dienc. In the 40 years sce the Village People released “YMCA,” the song has bee a cultural touchstone: a gay anthem famo for s nuendos and double entendr about young, f men “havg a good time,” as well as a staple at Yanke gam and bar mzvahs.The song has also immortalized the Young Men's Christian Associatn pop culture.

Yet former rints of the McBurney Y Chelsea — the buildg that spired the song, and which was featured the vio released late 1978 — say the realy of stays at the YMCA those days was more plited than the lyrics portray, wh gay culture and workg-class workouts existg a sgle munal space.“There was certaly a party aspect to their vio and that time was the height of all the gay clubs Chelsea,” rells Davidson Garrett, who lived at the McBurney Y om 1978 through 2000.

THE TOP 75 MOST INIC GAY ANTHEMS DERVG OF THE TLE OF BEG CALLED THE "GAY NATNAL ANTHEM"

“[The YMCA] did have some overlappg of gay cisg. Garrett adds unrgraduate stunts and disabled men to the mix of ethnilly and racially diverse renters, about half of whom he timat were gay.“At first I me to a 32nd Street rincy, but a guy who lived there told me was cheaper at McBurney,” says Joseph Kangappadan, a former MTA and Post Office employee who began stayg at the McBurney YMCA 1969 after immigratg om England.