Y.M.C.A.

Album: Cruisin' (1978)
Charted: 1 2
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Songfacts®:

  • Y.M.C.A. stands for "Young Men's Christian Association," commonly associated with the gyms that often provide temporary housing to men. The Village People sing about the YMCA as a place where you can hang out with all the boys. It's implied that this is more of a concealed kind of place to gather in-the-closet gay young men so they can leave their worries and troubles behind and let loose. While the lyrics don't contain any specific gay references, the song became a gay anthem.
  • In 1977, producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo assembled a group designed to attract gay audiences while parodying (some claimed exploiting) that same constituency's stereotypes. Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead were tapped to compose songs with gay underpinnings. Roles and costumes were carefully selected; among them were a cowboy, biker, soldier, policeman, and construction worker complete with hard hat.

    The songwriting credit on "Y.M.C.A" goes to Morali, Belolo and Victor Willis, who was the policeman in the group.

    A common misconception was that Village People were an all-gay troupe. Lead singer Victor Willis was not. In fact, from 1978-1982 he was married to Phylicia Ayers-Allen, who played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show and later married the sports announcer Ahmad Rashad. Henri Belolo was not gay, but Jacques Morali was, and the image conformed to his vision. The gay stereotype roles played well to the LGBT community associated with disco at the time, but looking back, it's kind of ridiculous to think that discos were "a gay thing" (nobody was having suspicions of, say, John Travolta). The disco scene, and the Village People, were welcoming to all.
  • This song has a dance associated with it where participants form the letters with their arms. It is commonly performed at weddings and other celebrations, and is extremely popular as it's very easy to do. The Village People popularized the dance moves when they performed the song; over the years they have sometimes given instructions on how to do it correctly. They say the most common mistakes are in the M and the C: the M is correctly made by touching your fingers in front of you, not by putting your fingers on your shoulders like you're calling a 20-second timeout. The C goes wrong when dancers make the gesture to the right, which to the audience looks flopped. The correct way to make the C is to the left, so it looks like a C to people facing you.
  • The song's co-writer, Victor Willis, insists this is not a "gay song," with the line "you can hang out with all the boys" inspired by his youth, when he would play basketball with his friends at the YMCA. "I wanted to write a song that could fit anyone's lifestyle," he told News Corp Australia. "I'm happy the gay community adopted it as their anthem, I have no qualms with that."
  • The YMCA that inspired the song was the McBurney YMCA on West 23rd Street in New York City between 7th and 8th avenues (in 2002, it moved to 14th Street). That was the YMCA Jacques Morali saw, which gave him the idea. In the video, the group performs with the building as a backdrop.

    Victor Willis relates the song to the YMCA on Buchanan Street in San Francisco, just blocks away from where he grew up.
  • The Village People made a video for this song, which was rare for American acts in 1978 because there was no MTV. In Europe, however, there were many more places to show videos, and that's where the Village People clip got the most views. When MTV launched in 1981, they played a lot of videos from British acts and a few they had from American acts like Devo, but the Village People apparently didn't fit their format.
  • In 2008, Spin magazine asked some of the Village People about this song. Here are some of the responses:

    Randy Jones (cowboy): When I moved to New York in 1975, I joined the McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street. I took Jacques (Morali) there three or four times in 1977, and he loved it. He was fascinated by a place where a person could work out with weights, play basketball, swim, take classes, and get a room. Plus, with Jacques being gay, I had a lot of friends I worked out with who were in the adult-film industry, and he was impressed by meeting people he had seen in the videos and magazines. Those visits with me planted a seed in him, and that's how he got the idea for "Y.M.C.A." - by literally going to the YMCA.

    David Hodo (construction worker): We had finished our third album Cruisin', and we needed one more song as a filler. Jacques wrote "Y.M.C.A." in about 20 minutes - the melody, the chorus, the outline. Then he gave it to Victor Willis and said, "Fill in the rest." I was a bit skeptical about some of our hits, but the minute I heard "Y.M.C.A.," I knew we had something special. Because it sounded like a commercial. And everyone likes commercials. "Y.M.C.A." certainly has a gay origin. That's what Jacques was thinking when he wrote it, because our first album [1977's Village People] was possibly the gayest album ever. I mean, look at us. We were a gay group. So was the song written to celebrate gay men at the YMCA? Yes. Absolutely. And gay people love it."
  • The presentation has a lot to do with this song's success, but the horn lines are also a big factor. They were arranged by Horace Ott, who had worked on tracks for Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole, Joe Cocker and Eartha Kitt. He also co-wrote the oft-covered "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," originally recorded by Nina Simone.

    On "Y.M.C.A.," Ott opened the song with a blast of horns that served as its clarion call. Leading up to the chorus, he added five stabs that mix with strings and percussion to create another very distinctive element within the song.
  • In America, this stalled at #2, where it spent three weeks, first behind "Le Freak" by Chic and then for two weeks behind another disco burner, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart.

    In most other countries, it went to #1. It was especially popular in the UK, where it stayed at the top for three weeks, and in Australia, where it was #1 for five. Australia became a stronghold for the group.
  • The famous arm movements that go with this song originated when the group performed on American Bandstand in an episode aired January 6, 1979. It wasn't the band that came up with it - it was the audience.

    When they got to the chorus, the group threw their hands in the air. The crowd followed suit, but continued with additional gestures for the remaining letters. It's not clear if the kids in the audience choreographed it beforehand, or if they made it up on the spot, but Bandstand host Dick Clark was very impressed with them. After the performance, he had the sound engineer re-cue the track and play it again so the group could watch them do it. As the Village People work out the gestures, Clark asks lead singer Victor Willis, "You think you can work that into your routine?" He replies, "I think we're going to have to."
  • This is a very popular song at sporting events, especially baseball games where it is often played between innings. Since 1996, the song has played at Yankee Stadium when the grounds crew dredges the infield in the fifth inning. The crew stops to perform the arm gestures at the appropriate times as the crowd follows along.

    This was a good year for the team: They won their first World Series since 1978 and enjoyed their first full season with shortstop Derek Jeter, who would become their captain.
  • The Village People saw this song as no more than an album filler, but Neil Bogart, the president of their record label, saw its potential and made the decision to push it.
  • The YMCA re-branded its name and logo to its popular nickname, "The Y" on July 11, 2010. The name switch came after research indicated many people didn't understand what the organization did. Village People fans breathed a sigh of relief when the lead singer of the original group, Victor Willis, released a statement to say the change won't affect the song. He added that the dance that goes along with it, in which participants use their arms to make the shape of each letter, is here to stay as well.
  • Structurally, this is very similar to the first Village People single, "San Francisco (You've Got Me)." Both songs build to a pronounced, four-syllable chant: Y-M-C-A, San-Fran-Cisc-O.

    Jacques Morali wrote the music and produced both tracks, so this makes sense. The lyricists were different, however, as lead singer Victor Willis had replaced Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead in this role - something that earned him a great deal in royalties. According to Hurtt, Willis threatened to quit if Phil was brought back to write lyrics. When Willis left the group, Hurtt was called back to write lyrics for the songs in the 1980 Village People movie Can't Stop the Music.
  • Various versions of the song were used in a series of UK television adverts for British price comparison website Confused.com starting in 2010. The commercials used the music as a familiar tune to which several distinct new lyrics were added.
  • On December 31, 2008, Guinness World Records certified the Village People performance at halftime of the Sun Bowl between Oregon State and Pittsburgh in El Paso as the largest YMCA dance ever, with 40,148 fans doing the moves, minus a few guys who didn't feel comfortable making letter gestures in the beer line.
  • When Spin asked Y.M.C.A. media relations manager Leah Pouw about this song, she replied: "We at the Y.M.C.A. celebrate the song. It's a positive statement about the Y.M.C.A. and what we offer to people all around the world."
  • In 2017, Boy George released an acoustic cover in partnership with YMCA Australia as part of the Why Not? campaign, and effort to connect with young people and let them know they are accepted no matter who they are.

    which aims to shine a light on issues that are important to Australian young people: marriage equality, mental health and youth unemployment.
  • The disco hit was deemed historically important enough in 2020 to enter the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" work. When it was entered, Victor Willis explained how he came up with the lyric.

    The first verse ("Young man, there's no need to feel down...") begins a story about a guy who's down on his luck and looking for a place to stay.

    The narrator is trying to cheer this guy up, telling him, "I was once in your shoes," and letting him know it's fun to stay at the YMCA.

    Willis says it came from real-life experience. "I would go to the Y to pick myself up," he said. "I'd go back home and get ready to get back to my life."
  • The cast of The Office dances to this in the season 5 episode "Cafe Disco."
  • President Donald Trump used this song to close out his rallies during his 2020 re-election campaign, despite The Village People repeatedly asking him not to. Following confirmation of Biden's win over Trump in November 2020's presidential election, Biden supporters mocked the former president by playing "Y.M.C.A." in the streets.

Comments: 28

  • Evan from SturbridgeBuddy, I don’t think that’s a biker
  • Jamal from San Francisco855 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94108, this is the YMCA you will find me at, young man get your feet off the ground, wont you listen to me, I said young man, best representation of true joy and coming out of any song around.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, Ny"Young man, there's no need to feel down
    I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground"
    On this day in 1979 {January 28th} the Village People's "Y.M.C.A."* peaked at #2 {for 3 weeks} on Billboard's Top 100 chart, the first week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Le Freak" by Chic, and for it's 2nd and 3rd week at #2, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart was in the top spot...
    "Y.M.C.A." reached #1 in Australian, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands...
    And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, the rest of Billboard's Top 10 on January 28th, 1979:
    At #3. "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart
    #4. "A Little More Love" by Olivia Newton-John
    #5. "Too Much Heaven" by The Bee Gees
    #6. "My Life" by Billy Joel
    #7. "Every 1's A Winner" by Hot Chocolate
    #8. "Fire" by The Pointer Sisters
    #9. "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire
    #10. "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor...
    * Per Wikipedia, worldwide "Y.M.C.A." has sold over 10 million physical copies...
  • Chris from SomewhereActually, the Village People themselves did not even know about the dance until their appearance on American Bandstand that Barry from Sauquoit mentioned just earlier, until Dick Clark showed them the audience doing it, which caught their interest. In fact if you watch the original video (scroll up, will ya?) you'll notice they aren't doing the dance.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 6th 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded by Sir George Williams in London, England.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 6th 1979, the Village People performed "Y.M.C.A." on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    Three months earlier on October 15th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on January 28th, 1979 it peaked at #2 (for 3 weeks) and spent exactly a half-year on the Top 100 (26 weeks)...
    "Le Freak" by Chic (for 1 week) and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart (for 2 weeks) kept it out of the top spot...
    Though it only reached #2 in the U.S.A. it did peak at #1 in Australia, Canada, and the U.K.
    Was track one on the group's debut album, Cruisin'.
  • Amber from Halifax, NsThis song is fun and i could dance to it for hours.
  • Dave from Liverpool, United KingdomThe best version of this is done by the Ground Staff at Yankee Stadium. At the bottom of the 5th inning, they come on and rake the diamond to this tune, and include their own choreography as well.

    Seeing is believing..........
  • Jeff from Austin, TxThis song was actually written about a special, secret branch of the YMCA. A branch where it is ok for men to hold each other tenderly, and listen to Bette Midler 8-tracks together.
  • Jeff from Austin, TxAlex Briley was the sailor. He was also sometimes wearing other military style outfits. He was known as "the G.I.". He was definitely wearing the hell outta that sailor suit when they did "In the Navy".
  • Rain from Clinton, Mdgay, straight, whatever, this was a catchy, silly and fun song!
  • Liquid Len from Ottawa, CanadaDisco died in 1980! Funkytown was known as "Disco's Last Hurrah". Gawd. I feel old.
  • Mike from New York, NyThe New York Yankees ground crew does a routine to this song while raking the dirt infield during games.
  • Joe from New York, NyI read an odd fact about this song. It was supposedly written with a specific branch of the YMCA in mind - the McBurney Branch, that until recently used to be on W23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Right across the street from the the famous Chelsea Hotel and near a big gay district. (Also, my source said that Merrill met Lynch in the swimming pool here early in the 20th Century. Lastly, the steamroom scene in the Godfather was filmed there.)
    Hey! Didn't anybody mentioned that this song is played every day in Yankee Stadium when the field crew comes out to rake the infield mid-game?
  • Musicmama from New York, NyTo Iara, Jay and akb4: All of the stereotypes represented by members of The Village People were appropriated by the gay subculture, particularly in New York, during the '70's: Native Americans and construction workers because they are symbols of buff hyper-masculinity (and, when the weather gets warm, construction workers don't wear much), and bikers and cops because they often chased and beat gay men. The appropriation of bikers and cops is ironic, obviously, in much the same way as homosexuals using the term "queer" or calling each other "faggot." (You might also compare this to African-Americans using the "N" word in reference to each other.)

    As for the song, it is actually one of the best disco songs. To some that may not be saying much, and I'll admit to having participated in a couple of "Death to Disco" fests in my youth. But it does have an anthemic quality to it, so I can see how it became--and continues to be--iconic among gay men. Furthermore, it's what the Swedes call a kulturbarer--culturebearer--in that it represents a mood and mode of the time. No song like it could or would have been made after AIDS became widespread and killed so many of the Village People's contemporaries.

    By the way, has anyone ever noticed that disco "died" around 1982 or 1983--right about the time AIDS left the gay male subculture and spread to the wider homosexual community?
  • Andrew from Birmingham, United StatesI like this song for its disco beat and its abbreviation "Young Men's Christian Association". The gay part of it was never intended for that association. I'm not so sure that this song is about homosexuality. To me the gay part is people's commentary or made-up crap. I don't think that homosexuality has ever had anything to do with Y.M.C.A. But if it did, it sounds like something typical of the group "Queen" to sing about.
  • Matthew from Milford, MaThis song is playable on Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS. Let's hunt for sunken treasure!
  • Steve from Fenton, MoOne of the better disco era songs.
  • Keith from San Francisco, CaThe "policeman" was Victor Willis and he was married to a then unknown actress who we all know now as Phylicia Rashad (yes, the Cosby mom)
  • Xavier from Noisy Le Sec, FranceThe song's chart record is incomplete: the song reached number one in UK and several other European countries including mine.
  • Annabelle from Eugene, OrDidn't one of the members of The Village People have on a Navy Suit, like the suit of a Sailor?
  • Jon from Oakridge, Or "People too old to have liked it when it came out, or people who weren't born yet, will not hear it the same way"-akb4, orange, NJ. I was in 5-8 grade when that crap came out and I was NEVER a fan of it. Here's a better way to put it: Anyone who had half a brain and/or good parenting hated that pop sh*t.
  • Pete from Nowra, AustraliaIara, that was the ice cream man
  • Akb4 from Orange, Nj
    As described above, the band was essentially engineered; designed and recruited by a producer to become successful and make money. Menudo, New Kids on the Block, N'Sync, and Backstreet Boys all also originated this way. Pop music from engineered groups is largely disposable; if you listen to it thirty years later, it's not because you like the chord changes, it's because it reminds you of some aspect of being alive when it was new. People too old to have liked it when it came out, or people who weren't born yet, will not hear it the same way.

    Marlon Brando popularized the biker look as an iconic tough guy image in the 1950s movie "The Wild One". The sadomasochistic subculture of gay male culture in the 1970s, particularly in new york city, adopted it both ironically and because it fitted the role playing and posturing that s&m frequently involves. You can see classic images of both sides of this in the movie "After Hours".
  • Greg from Victoria, Canadagay, straight, whatever....bad song...worse band.
  • Jay from Glen Burnie, MdIara, the other man's outfit was supposed to be a member of a biker (motorcylce) gang, and was dressed all in leathers (i.e. jacket, boots, chaps). The leathers, incidently, are not to "look tough" or any of the other stereotypical connotations that have developed over the years.
    They simply provide a measure of protection for a motorcyclist if he/she crashes on the road.
  • Jen from Ontario, CanadaThis song was on the movie waynes world 2 which is a secual to waynes world staring mike myers and dana carvey. It is the FUNNIEST movie ever!!!
  • Iara from Santiago, ChileHahaha,this guys were really fun.They looked pretty ridiculous dancing with their outfits.One was an american indian,other one was a street worker,another one was a policeman,but i can't figure out which suit had the 4th one.
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