Today in 1979, the YMCA filed a lawsuit against the Village People, for their song paying tribute to the YMCA!
Though, seeing how it’s been played about 50 trillion times between then and now, you can probably guess that the lawsuit didn’t stop that song at all.
So why were the Village People singing about the YMCA in the first place? There’s some debate about that.
Producer Jacques Morali came up with the idea after walking around Manhattan and happening upon the YMCA’s building there.
YMCAs popped up around the country starting in the late 1800s, when more and more people were moving to cities and needed inexpensive rooms.
By the 1970s, YMCAs had a reputation of being a place where gay men could meet, hang out and even hook up.
Morali started writing a disco track with that idea in mind, though band member Victor Willis, who co-wrote the song, said he was thinking about playing YMCA basketball as a kid.
Songs can have more than one inspiration, after all.
And this one became a hit with just about everybody; another Village Person, David Hodo, said he had a feeling the song would be big because it was as catchy and as memorable as a commercial.
But in the late 70s, the YMCA didn’t like the idea of this musical commercial.
Even though the song explicitly says “it’s fun to stay at the YMCA,” the lawsuit argued that the Village People had infringed on the organization’s copyright, that the group was making money off of its name.
The suit never went to court because the Y reached a settlement with the Village People.
But as the years went by, and the song seemingly got bigger and bigger, the YMCA changed its tune on “YMCA.”
The organization concluded that it wasn’t a bad thing to have millions of people singing its name and making the initials with their arms.
Which is maybe why a branch of the US military later reached out to the Village People.
They hoped they might see a boost in recruitment with some help from the song “In The Navy.”
January 13 is New Year’s under the Julian calendar, it’s also known in Switzerland as Saint Sylvester Day.
So on both New Year’s Day, they have the Silvesterkläuse, people in character costumes who run around town ringing bells, yodeling and maybe get a drink or two as they drop by houses offering new year’s greetings.
So I guess keep an eye and a drink out.
“Y.M.C.A.” (An Oral History) (SPIN)
Silvesterkläuse both beautiful and ugly (Swiss National Museum)
