08/03/2007
Village People Cop: Y.M.C.A. Not About Gay Cruising
Victor Willis, the cop from the Village People, says the lyrics in Y.M.C.A. were not meant to be innuendo about gay cruising but about hanging out with your straight buddies.
(uh, straight buddies like Bob Allen and Ted Haggard, perhaps)
Says Willis' publicist Alice Wolf: "Victor Willis wrote about the YMCA and having fun there, but the type of fun he was talking about was straight fun," insists Wolf, adding that Willis has nothing against homosexuality. 'When he says, 'Hang out with all the boys'... he's talking about the boys, the fellas.... But it's one of those ambiguous songs that was taken that way because of the gay association with Village People.'"
Willis is "mounting a comeback with a tell-all book detailing his frustration with his flamboyant gay bandmates and why they ultimately caused him to leave the group in the early '80s" according to the Canadian Press.
Now sober, Willis has been in the news most often recently for drug abuse and arrests. In July 2005, Willis was arrested after police found a loaded .45 and crack cocaine in his convertible Corvette.
He's mounting a "comeback show" in Las Vegas on August 31st that will serve as the opening for a string of international performances.
"Wolf says Willis's stage performance will include all of his biggest hits with the Village People, and several costume changes involving the group's trademark personas."
Which of course, aren't gay at all.
Posted 10:00 AM EST by Andy Towle in Music, News, Victor Willis, Village People | Permalink
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Victor's been sayin' that for years now. Honey, it IS a gentle play on being gay. I was friends with the co-writer of the song. I know what his intent was. It was a double-innuendo about gay or straight boys at the YMCA. It was camp, Victor. Don't worry darlin', we all know you knot gay. Don't matter. The VP were just fun, and Felipe Rosa is STILL the sweetest guy on god's good earth. Love you, Felipe.
Posted by: jamal49 | Aug 7, 2007 5:46:08 AM
First of all, Jacques Morali did not speak english very well at all, which explans why he needed Victor Willis, who could not only speak english, but could write it as well.
If you take a look at all the albums produced by Jacques Morali in America, he always partnered with an english speaking African American writer such as Victor Willis, Phil Hurtt, Peter Whitehead, etc., because Jacques Morali was a producer/composer, not a writer. And he admitedly did not have a good command of english. Since it was Victor Willis who wrote the english lyrics, who better that he, to attest to what was ment by his lyrics.
Look You people are missing the point, Victor Willis is simply saying that when he wrote Y.M.C.A, he did not write it about sex or cruising at the Y.M.C.A. Insted, he wrote the song about the fun that normal people have there, such as sports, basketball, exercising and and then they get themselves clean by taking a shower and going home. You know, the same way normal people act at a gym or fitness center today. So get over it!
Posted by: Sasha | Aug 7, 2007 11:39:38 PM
Hello everyone,
I just happened to stumble arcoss this forum
while doing some researh...My name is Phil Hurtt and yes I am the Phil Hurtt Who initally wrote the lyrics,arranged the vocals and placed Victor Willis in position as lead singer of the VP's after turning down Jacque's offer to be the lead singer for the very first VP album "Village People". There was no group just a concept in Jacques "very fertile" mind. He first told me about this concept in 1976 during a Ritchie Family session
To set the record straight.. the VP's were always a gay concept and the first lyricist on the job was my dear friend the late Peter Whitehead. Jacque felt Peter's lyrics were a little to "hot" for 1977 America so I was called in to re-write "San francisco" then write Hollywood (which I actually wrote in the studio), Liberation & Fire Island. Jacque hired five background singers
for me to work with one of whom was Victor Willis.When Jacque ask me to sing lead I realized that I was not the voice he was looking for, I would have broken a few blood vessels trying to emulate the throaty vocal he was looking for, but I told him that one of the back-up singers had a voice that may just work. I got the ok to try Victor on the lead vocal Jacque like it and I coached Victor through all of the first VP album. He got the job..The first album went Gold.I think we can agree that the first VP album was the blueprint for what followed.
How Victor became lyricst for the VP's?..
you'll have to wait for my book...LOL Just kidding. I hope this helps to clarify some of the issues your minds.
Phil hurtt
Posted by: Phil hurtt | Aug 21, 2007 1:09:55 AM
Hello, The post-Willis band changed its image, tried a Bowie-esque 'future sound', then new romantic slush. But the makeovers failed, and the Village People broke up in 1986, re-forming two years later with no plan other than to churn out the old hits without the man who originally sung them.
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Mario
Toronto wedding
Posted by: Mario | May 15, 2009 12:05:39 AM