The Village People - Y.M.C.A

Artist: The Village People

Track: Y.M.C.A

Year: 1979

Genre: Dance

Main Audience: All ages

Type: Performance

Y.M.C.A was released in Jan 1979 and went straight to number one in UK and went to number 2 in USA. It was the groups biggest hit, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and became an ultimate dance party anthem. "Y.M.C.A." is number 7 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century. It's played at almost every occasion and usually gets people up and dancing with its rememorable dance routine.

'Taken at face value, its lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association. In gay culture from which the group sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger gay men to whom it was addressed.^[1] However, Victor Willis, Village People lead singer and writer of the lyrics, insists that he did not write YMCA as a gay anthem (Willis is heterosexual). Rather, Willis said he wrote the song as a reflection of young urban black youth fun at the YMCA such as basketball and swimming, etc. That said, Willis has often acknowledged his fondness for double entendre. Willis also revealed that he wrote the song in Vancouver, British Columbia. ^'

                      

^{Wikipedia 2011}

^{The video is performance based and shows the group dancing around various places, in the streets and by rivers. There all dressed in their ridiculous iconic costumes, they are trying to make a statement and bring fun into the video. The begining part of the film starts with a unsteady camera showing the YMCA sign, this signifies the time period as they haven't got the suitable equipment and steady tripod's that we have today. It's a stereotype of the gay community, the dress sense, facial hair, dance moves and how they present themselves.}

^{The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are pretty much the same. There is a constant reminder of the songs name (YMCA) through out the video, the group point at the building several times, the dance routine spells out the letters YMCA and at the start of each chorus the camera goes back to the YMCA sign. There is a good relationship between the visuals and the music, because it's a dance song the video of course had to include a ance routine. The music tempo is upbeat and the dance moves are in time with it.}