'Y.M.C.A.,' The Sports Anthem About A Gay Cruising Spot: Lyrics And Meaning

By | October 18, 2020

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Photo of DISCO; The audience performs the 'YMCA' dance with The Village People at the "ABC Disco Ball" at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Redferns)

The Village People's "Y.M.C.A." is an unmistakable call to the dance floor -- from the opening brass hits of its intro melody you know what song is playing and you even know the arm motions that accompany the lyrics. Like the accosting fingering of "Stairway To Heaven," or the 1, 2, 3, 4 of "Blitzkrieg Bop," the beginning of "Y.M.C.A." is unmistakable. The song itself is one of the most bizarre cultural phenomena of all time. What began as a gay anthem performed by the Village People has been cleansed of its camp and brought into the mainstream as an upbeat song about how great it is to work out at the Y. It's performed at campaign rallies and the sixth inning of New York Yankees baseball games.

"Y.M.C.A." was immediately adopted as a gay anthem not only because of its subtext and banging disco beat, but the Village People were the most "out" gay musical act of the era (in spite of their very straight lead singer), but did it begin as a song about gay sex? Or was it just a track about having a clean place to sleep and work out? Even today everyone involved can't agree.

What is the Y.M.C.A.?

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source: NBC News

"It's fun to stay at the YMCA," or so say the members of the Village People. In 1978 the Young Men's Christian Association, specifically the McBurney Y in Chelsea that inspired the song, was more than just a gay cruising spot. According to former resident Davidson Garrett the Y certainly had a gay element to it, but it was also a place where someone could live and work out for a modest sum. He told Gotahmist:

[The YMCA] did have some overlapping of gay cruising. But it was a serious gym for people who really wanted to go and work out every day, and a nice place to live for working-class people.

At the time, the Y offered single room residencies at a low weekly rate making it the perfect place to stay if you were new to the city or trying to find success in the theater scene, or just didn't have a lot of money in your pocket. Garrett explains that while the Y was definitely used for cruising by men in their 20s and 30s, those most likely to take part were the weekend crowd and not long term lodgers. He explained:

The weekend party people who would stay there really just needed the rooms to crash. They didn’t stay there at all to socialize, but to take in the nightlife.