The Village People's Y.M.C.A. is an unmistakable ll to the dance floor -- om the openg brass hs of s tro melody you know what song is playg and you even know the arm motns that acpany the lyrics. The song self is one of the most bizarre cultural phenomena of all time. What began as a gay anthem performed by the Village People is performed at mpaign ralli and the sixth ng of New York Yanke baseball gam.
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!
* is ymca 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.
The songs targeted a niche rerd buyg dience: gay disthequ and their patrons.
IS Y.M.C.A. REALLY A GAY SONG? THE MEANG OF THE LYRICS
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).
'Y.M.C.A.,' THE SPORTS ANTHEM ABOUT A GAY CISG SPOT: LYRICS AND MEANG
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.
FROM YMCA TO BLOOM: CHARTG THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY ANTHEM
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. 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. ” 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.
TMP EXPLAS HIS LOVE OF ‘Y.M.C.A.,’ WHICH HE CLAIMS IS THE ‘GAY NATNAL ANTHEM’
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 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.
Often gay and their 20s or 30s, the weekend guts ed the YMCA “as a drsg room,” and as a place to discreetly hook up, Garrett says.“The weekend party people who would stay there really jt need the rooms to crash,” says Garrett. Meanwhile, hoekeepers me not jt to offer towels and change your sheets, but to keep an eye on you, Kangappadan rells.Part of the song’s charm, of urse, is s petg terpretatns: It n be read equally well as a celebratn of gay culture or of the workg man.
THE TOP 75 MOST INIC GAY ANTHEMS DERVG OF THE TLE OF BEG CALLED THE "GAY NATNAL ANTHEM"
And as a Sp oral history revealed on the song's 30th anniversary ten years ago, even the group self didn't agree on the proper terpretatn.David Hodo (“the nstctn worker”) sisted to Sp that Jacqu Morali, the French producer who helped create the group and -wrote the song wh lead sger Victor Willis (“the p”), certaly had the gay muny md when he me up wh the song. There’s nothg gay about them.”Jon, who was a Y member at the time, sists to Gothamist that the band's artistic tent wasn’t to produce a gay anthem.
“But if you happen to be a gay man and have the experience and perspective of hookg up wh each other, ’s another way n be perceived.”Karen Tongson, a queer studi scholar and associate profsor of English and genr studi at the Universy of Southern California, says both the history of the McBurney branch and the “YMCA” vio’s dual legacy are right le wh the way queerns has long existed real life and pop culture.“A lot of queer exprsn has happened through nuendo,” Tongson said. Is at the same time the most famo gay anthem the history of mic and one of the bt known dis songs ever.