GAY ANTHEM ‘Y.M.C.A.’ HONOURED

 

Everybody knows the words, everybody knows the movements. YMCA was the he disco hit that spawned an international dance phenomenon and became an anthem for the worldwide LGBTQ community, and it’s now been recognised by the US Library of Congress  as historically important.

The song which joyously celebrates gay cruising culture has just been inducted into the National Recording Registry of the world’s largest library.

The Village People have had the world singing and shaping the letters on the dance floor since 1978, but lead singer Victor Willis who penned the iconic lyrics states “I had no  idea when we wrote YMCA that it would become one of the most iconic songs in the world, and a fixture at almost every wedding, birthday party, bar mitzvah and sporting event.”

The Library of Congress annually inducts ‘audio treasures’ deemed to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant, into its hall of fame. In a statement it said that the song performed by an all male group “purposely campy and extravagantly costumed, constituted an American cultural phenomenon.” 

The traffic cop, soldier, cowboy, mechanic, construction worker and leather-clad biker have now danced their way into this exclusive club alongside such musical behemoths as Tina Turner’s ‘Private Dancer’, Glen Campbell’s  ‘Wichita Lineman’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I will always love you’.