At last weekend’s joyous Calgary Pride parade, we heard The Village People’s famous song, YMCA, multiple times as the floats with thumping music went by. The gathered onlookers spontaneously and dutifully made YMCA arm gestures during the famous chorus. But who knew the song—practically a Pride anthem—was written in Vancouver?
Our friend and former Calgarian, Melody Jacobson, recently produced a CBC Radio piece exploring YMCA’s origins. Historian Glenn Tkach explains that the Village People were recording an album in 1970s Vancouver, and when talking about the YMCA, the idea for the song was born. Tkach also does queer history walking tours in Vancouver and includes the YMCA at 955 Burrard Street as one of his stops. It was this location which inspired the song.
YMCA is seen by many as overtly gay and sexually provocative, an interpretation which The Village People’s lead singer and lyricist Victor Willis has denied. However it sounds to you, the song first appeared on The Village People’s 1978 album Cruisin’ and eventually reached number two on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart before becoming the international staple of weddings and Pride Parades.
So the next time you hear YMCA, spare a thought for the song’s provenance, and when you are next in Vancouver, consider joining Tkach’s Really Gay History Tour.
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Calgary Gay History 
What a fabulous story. Who knew?
Hi
I thought I knew things to do in Vancouver. Now the next time I am there I will be booking a walking tour ( 2026 Unison Choral Festival) Also thanks for telling us the origin story of YMCA I stay most times at the Y down town.
All my best
Rosemary
when you’re dressing-up maybe for halloween or otherwise do you like 1 of these or have another fave outfit? [i’m already thinkin’ of what to wear for halloween?] n yeah ymca is a fave of many
Fascinating! I never knew. Hitchhiking through California in 1979, we stayed at a YMCA in SFO. That was our stepping off point for various adventures as we explored SFO, and indeed it was fun to stay there. I don’t think we had any idea of the ‘pride’ connotations. That the song was released the same year was an amazing coincidence, and we even hitchhiked to Vancouver the following year. The lyrics seem to fit with those times so perfectly. ‘I said, young man, ’cause you’re in a new town ‘. I think that was the only YMCA I ever stayed in, but as those hitchhiking journeys in 79 and 80 always started out from a YMCA summer camp, what an amazing juxtaposition of history this song is with my youth. Thanks for sharing.