George Williams founded the Young Men’s Christian Association in 1844 to divert young Englishmen from the temptations of the taverns and brothels of Victorian London. We can be fairly sure this evangelist for muscular Christianity would have been surprised at the way the term YMCA has since become known to millions as an American gay anthem, a disco classic sung by six, high-camp performers dressed, variously, as a policeman, a cowboy, a Red Indian, a biker, a soldier and a construction worker.
The inspirationally silly 1978 song by Village People has just been added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, a repository for audio recordings considered to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. The single reached number one in 15 countries, including in