Y.M.C.A. (song)

"Y.M.C.A."
Single by Village People
from the album Cruisin'
B-side	"The Women"
Released	November 13, 1978
Format	7" 12"
Recorded	1978 Sigma Sound Studios (New York City, New York)
Genre	Disco
Length	4:47
Label	Casablanca
Writer(s)	Jacques Morali Victor Willis
Producer(s)	Jacques Morali
Certification	Platinum (RIAA, BPI, Canada)
Village People singles chronology
"Macho Man" (1978) "Y.M.C.A." (1978) "Go West" (1979)
Music video "Y.M.C.A." (Official) on YouTube

"Y.M.C.A." is a song by the American disco group Village People. It was released in 1978 as the only single from their third studio album Cruisin' (1978). The song reached number two on the US charts in early 1979 and reached number one in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit. It is one of fewer than forty singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide. A medley with "Hot Cop" reached number 2 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.^[1]

The song remains popular and is played at many sporting events in the U.S. and Europe, with crowds using the dance in which the arms are used to spell out the four letters of the song's title as an opportunity to stretch. Moreover, the song also remains particularly popular due to its status as a disco classic and gay anthem, even among listeners who are otherwise uninvolved in disco or gay culture. "Y.M.C.A." appeared as Space Shuttle Wakeup call on mission STS-106, on day 11.^[2]

In 2009, "Y.M.C.A." was entered into the Guinness World Book of Records when over 44,000 people danced to the song with Village People singing live at the 2008 Sun Bowl game in El Paso, Texas.^[3] "Y.M.C.A." is number 7 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century.^[4]

History

Victor Willis, lead singer and lyricist, recalls that while in the studio, Morali asked him, "What exactly is the YMCA?" After Willis explained it to him, he saw the expression on Morali's face and said, "Don't tell me Jacques, you want to write a song about it?" and they quickly wrote the track for the album Cruisin'.^[5]

Upon its release, the YMCA threatened to sue the band over trademark infringement. Nobody contacted the Y regarding permission to use the YMCA trademark for the song. The organization ultimately settled with the composers out of court^[6] and later expressed pride regarding the song saluting the organization.^[7]

The song became a number one hit throughout the world (although not in the United States where it was kept out of the top spot by Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"). It has remained popular at parties, sporting events, weddings and functions ever since.

In 2011, Willis filed a notice of copyright termination to the song as lyricist under the Copyright Act of 1976 which allows recording artists and writers to reclaim their master recordings and publishing. In a landmark ruling in 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that Willis can terminate his copyrights granted to the publishers Can't Stop Productions and Scorpio Music because "a joint author who separately transfers his copyright interest may unilaterally terminate the grant."^[8] YMCA and other hits written by Willis (for Village People and other Can't Stop acts) began to revert to him on September 13, 2013.^[9] On March 4, 2015, it was determined that the sole writers of the song are Morali and Willis and the name Belolo has been removed. Willis now owns 50% of the song previously credited to Belolo.^[10]

Content

Taken at face value, the song's lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association. In the gay culture from which the Village People sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed.^[11] Willis, the group's lead singer and lyricist, said through his publicist that he did not write "Y.M.C.A." as a gay anthem^[12] but as a reflection of young urban black youth fun at the YMCA such as basketball and swimming. That said, he has often acknowledged his fondness for double entendre. Willis says that he wrote the song in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[13]

Song structure

The song, played in the key of G♭ major, begins with a brass riff, backed by the constant pulse that typified disco. Many different instruments are used throughout for an overall orchestral feel, another disco convention, but it is brass that stands out.

As with other Village People hits, the lead vocals are handled by Willis and the background vocals are supplied by Willis and professional background singers. The distinctive vocal line features the repeated "Young man!" ecphonesis followed by Willis singing the verse lines. The background vocals join in throughout the song.

Willis's version of the song is used in the film, Can't Stop the Music, though by that time Ray Simpson had replaced him as the policeman.

Origin of hand movement and dance

The YMCA dance demonstrated in a photomontage. In this rendition, the M (second from left) is done in a popular variant.

Members of the grounds crew of Yankee Stadium pause to do the YMCA dance.

YMCA is also the name of a group dance with cheerleader Y-M-C-A choreography invented to fit the song. One of the phases involves moving arms to form the letters Y-M-C-A as they are sung in the chorus:

Y —arms outstretched and raised upwards

M —made by bending the elbows from the 'Y' pose so the fingertips meet over the chest^[14]

C —arms extended to the left

A —hands held together above head

The dance originated on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. During the January 6, 1979 episode, which featured the Village People as guests throughout the hour, the dance was performed by audience members while the group performed "YMCA." Clark then said to Willis that he would like to show him something. Clark again played the song with the audience doing the YMCA hand gestures. Willis immediately picked up on the dance and mimicked the hand movements back at the audience as other Village People members stared at him with puzzled looks. Clark then turned to Willis and said, "Victor, think you can work this dance into your routine?" Willis responded, "I think we're gonna have to."^[15] In a 2008 retrospective article for Spin, Randy Jones has opined that the dance may have originated as a misunderstanding: The group's original choreographed dance had the group clapping above their heads during the chorus and he believes that the audience, believing them to be making the letter "Y", began following suit.^[16]

Following the fifth inning of New York Yankees baseball games at Yankee Stadium, the grounds crew traditionally grooms the infield while leading the crowd in the dance.^[17] In July 2008, Village People performed "Y.M.C.A." with the Yankees grounds crew at the last MLB All-Star Game held at the old Yankee Stadium. Similarly at the Sapporo Dome, during Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters baseball games, "Y.M.C.A." is enthusiastically enjoyed by the crowd and ground staff during the fifth inning stretch.

Charts and certifications

Covers and parodies

• Billy Connolly's 1979 recording "In the Brownies" is a spoof of both this song and the Village People's "In the Navy".
• The 1993 comedy film Wayne's World 2 features a scene where Wayne, Garth, and two of their show's colleagues (while running away from the main antagonist) accidentally go into a gay club; since they are dressed in different clothing (power line worker, policeman, sailor, and roadie respectively), the DJ puts on the song and the four perform the dance.
• In 1994, the duo of 2 Live Jews did a parody of the song as "What did you say?", which was about a young man, who could not hear what was being said from the older man. It came from the album "Disco Jews" (1994).
• On July 2, 2004, Colin Powell, then the U.S. Secretary of State, performed a modified version of "YMCA" for his fellow foreign government officials at the ASEAN security meeting in Jakarta. His lyrics includes the lines:

  President Bush, he said to me: 'Colin, I know you will agree. I need you to run the Department of State. We are between a rock and a hard place.' ^[49]

• In 2006, TC Moses covered "YMCA" for iNiS's Elite Beat Agents.
• In 2008, a commercial for the Israeli TV provider yes. had a group of Jews dancing on Wall St., moping about the then-new switchover to HD quality to the tune of "YMCA". It also poked fun at the religion; with references to Sodom and Gomorrah, to lyrics like "It's against the Torah!" and "Now the "shikes" look so well./You will all go to Hell!/Or in Hebrew, "yismor hokel"."^[50][51]
• In September 2012 a Slovenian musical group and stand-up comedians Slon in Sadež released a slovene parody of the YMCA-song with the title "NNLB". It makes fun of irresponsible financial management of the largest bank in Slovenia Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB), causing a severe long lasting financial and economic crisis of Slovenia.^[52]
• On March 2, 2013, during the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, Jay Pharoah parodied President Barack Obama giving a press conference about the recent budget cuts in Congress, saying that there were going to be cuts on the military, social service workers, federal construction projects, and Native American funding. The representatives of each (four Village People characters) did the arm dance in order after Pharaoh recited the verse of the song.^[53]
• In early 2013, Disney Channel covered the song as O.W.C.A. for the TV series Phineas and Ferb in one of its music videos shown in commercial breaks. As seen in the music video, it shows Disney Channel stars from shows such as, Jessie (TV series), Dog With a Blog, Good Luck Charlie, and Austin & Ally, and showed the secret agents dancing to the song.
• The song was covered in the 2013 animated film Despicable Me 2 by Gru's minions. This version was included on the film's soundtrack.^[54]
• In November 2013, Chris Pennington released a parody of the song directed at Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien, entitled "Why not P.K.?", expressing sentiment that Therrien was not giving star Canadiens defenceman P. K. Subban enough ice time.^[55]
• On the children's show Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch sings the song "Stretch, Wiggle, Yay!" at his trash can, while his worm, Slimey and his worm friends do their daily workout. "Stretch, Wiggle, Yay!" spoofs "Y.M.C.A.".^[56]

References

External links

• http://www.facebook.com/officialvictorwillis

External video

Original 1978 music video