The Real Story Of The YMCA That Inspired The Village People's Gay Anthem - Gothamist

Contents:

• LOVE IS A DRAG: THE STORY BEHD THE GROUNDBREAKG SECRET 60S GAY ALBUM
• THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
• 'TEEN BEACH MOVIE' STAR GARRETT CLAYTON COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S A LONGTERM RELATNSHIP
• GAY BARBIE SONGANDY DICKJUN. 21, 20061 VIEWER1 CONTRIBUTORGAY BARBIE SONG LYRICSHI-YA GARRETT!!HI RL!!YOU WANNA GO FOR A RI?ON WHAT?ON THIS!!BARBI SUCH A BCHSHE IS JT A WCHI REALLY HATE HERWHY DO KEN DATE HER?KEN IS SUCH A MANI DO ALL I CANJT TO DO HIM(Y)WE JT WANNA SCREW HIM(SH SUCH A BCH I WANNA SCRATCH HER EY OUT)I HAVE DREAMS ABOUT KENBEG INSI MY DENAND WE HOLD AND WE KISSLIKE WERE SWEETHEARTSBUT THAT BARBI A SLUTWH HER CUTE LTLE BUTTAND I GUS KEN LIK BOOBSMA OF FAKE PARTSYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKEAND I CRY EVERYDAYCSE STRAIGHT UPTHAT BCH IS IN MY WAY!..BARBIE IS A BCHSHE IS JT A WCHI REALLY HATE HERWHY DO KEN DATE HER?KEN IS SUCH A MANI DO ALL I CANJT TO DO HIMWE WANNA SCREW HIMWHEN I SEE HERI WILL KNEE HER..I WILL PUNCH HERAND ILL CNCH HER.. OHHH Y...HEY GARRETTWHAT RLLOOK WHOS OVER THEREWELL IF IT ISNT BARBIE WHOUT KENAND THAT STUPID CAIFORNIA DREAM VANHEY BARBIE ITS USCOME OVER RIGHT OVER HERE MISSY(FIGHTG, PUNCHG SOUNDS AND CURSG)EMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTTHIS SONG B IS UNREVIEWEDGENI ANNOTATN1 NTRIBUTORA PARODY OF AQUA’S “BARBIE GIRL” .EXPAND SHAREASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌WHEN DID ANDY DICK RELEASE “GAY BARBIE SONG”?WHO WROTE “GAY BARBIE SONG” BY ANDY DICK?CREDSWRTEN BYANDY DICKRELEASE DATEJUNE 21, 2006TAGSPOPEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE

LOVE IS A DRAG: THE STORY BEHD THE GROUNDBREAKG SECRET 60S GAY ALBUM

“At a time when gay people were ep the closet, here was an album for them, ” said JD Doyle, a rerd archivist. Garrett was nfed until his iend rmed him that they were a gay bar. Gay waers and r hops started buyg pi, up to six at a time.

Over the years, the album beme a cult em, sellg for up to $ years after the album appeared, a pany lled Camp Rerds started releasg novelty songs featurg lispg volists on meang numbers like Homer the Happy Ltle Homo. But the same myster pany also released an earnt, gay-oriented album tled Mad About The far back at the 1920s, blu sgers such as Ma Raey and Bsie Smh had been sgg about gay characters, though they were loathe to directly exprs their own sir.

THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM

Scere gay love songs didn’t appear greater numbers until the “women’s mic” movement of the 70s, wh artists cludg Holly Near, Meg Christian and Chris Williamson. ”Even so, a man, Steven Grossman, beme the first openly gay star on a major label when Mercury Rerds released Caravan Tonight 1974.

“My gay iends said ‘thank you for not givg to any temptatns to do somethg that might have gotten some lghs’. ”A Great Big World: A straight man (Ian Axle) and a gay man (Chad Kg) bond the h group A Great Big World.

'TEEN BEACH MOVIE' STAR GARRETT CLAYTON COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S A LONGTERM RELATNSHIP

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 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 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.

GAY BARBIE SONGANDY DICKJUN. 21, 20061 VIEWER1 CONTRIBUTORGAY BARBIE SONG LYRICSHI-YA GARRETT!!HI RL!!YOU WANNA GO FOR A RI?ON WHAT?ON THIS!!BARBI SUCH A BCHSHE IS JT A WCHI REALLY HATE HERWHY DO KEN DATE HER?KEN IS SUCH A MANI DO ALL I CANJT TO DO HIM(Y)WE JT WANNA SCREW HIM(SH SUCH A BCH I WANNA SCRATCH HER EY OUT)I HAVE DREAMS ABOUT KENBEG INSI MY DENAND WE HOLD AND WE KISSLIKE WERE SWEETHEARTSBUT THAT BARBI A SLUTWH HER CUTE LTLE BUTTAND I GUS KEN LIK BOOBSMA OF FAKE PARTSYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKEAND I CRY EVERYDAYCSE STRAIGHT UPTHAT BCH IS IN MY WAY!..BARBIE IS A BCHSHE IS JT A WCHI REALLY HATE HERWHY DO KEN DATE HER?KEN IS SUCH A MANI DO ALL I CANJT TO DO HIMWE WANNA SCREW HIMWHEN I SEE HERI WILL KNEE HER..I WILL PUNCH HERAND ILL CNCH HER.. OHHH Y...HEY GARRETTWHAT RLLOOK WHOS OVER THEREWELL IF IT ISNT BARBIE WHOUT KENAND THAT STUPID CAIFORNIA DREAM VANHEY BARBIE ITS USCOME OVER RIGHT OVER HERE MISSY(FIGHTG, PUNCHG SOUNDS AND CURSG)EMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTTHIS SONG B IS UNREVIEWEDGENI ANNOTATN1 NTRIBUTORA PARODY OF AQUA’S “BARBIE GIRL” .EXPAND SHAREASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌WHEN DID ANDY DICK RELEASE “GAY BARBIE SONG”?WHO WROTE “GAY BARBIE SONG” BY ANDY DICK?CREDSWRTEN BYANDY DICKRELEASE DATEJUNE 21, 2006TAGSPOPEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE

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. Meanwhile, hoekeepers me not jt to offer towels and change your sheets, but to keep an eye on you, Kangappadan 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.

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 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.