Tunesday : Macho Man

Macho Man

(Morali, Jacques / Belolo, Henri / Willis, Victor / Whitehead, Peter)

Performed by The Village People

Body (body), wanna feel my body, baby (Wanna feel my body, baby)
Body, baby, such a thrill, my body (Such a thrill, my body, yeah yeah)
Body, wanna touch my body (Wanna touch my body, baby)
Body, baby, it's too much, my body (It's too much, my body, yeah yeah)
Body, check it out, my body, body (Check it out my body, baby)
Baby, don't you doubt, my body (Don't you doubt my body, yeah yeah)
Body, talking about my body, body (Talking 'bout my body, well)
Baby, checking out my body
Listen here

Every man wants to be a macho, macho man
To have the kind of body always in demand
Joggin' in the mornings, go, man, go
Workouts in the health spa, muscles grow
You can best believe me
He's a macho man
Glad he took you down with anyone you can
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Macho, macho man (Macho man, yeah)
I gotta be a macho man (I gotta be a)
Macho, macho man, yeah
I gotta be a macho (Ow!)

Macho, macho man, yeah
I gotta be a macho man
Macho, macho man, hey hey
I gotta be a macho

Body (body), it's so hot, my body (It's so hot, my body, baby)
Body, love to pop my body (Love to pop my body, yeah yeah)
Body, love to please my body (Love to please my body, baby)
Body, don't you tease my body (Don't you tease my body, yeah)
Body, you'll adore my body (You'll adore my body, baby)
Body, come explore my body (Come explore my body, yeah yeah)
Body, made by God, my body (Made by God, my body, baby)
Body, it's so good, my body (Hey!)

You can tell a macho, he has a funky walk
His western shirts and leather, always look so boss
Funky with his body, he's a king
Call him Mister Ego, dig his chains
You can best believe that, he's a macho man
Likes to be the leader, he never dresses grand
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Macho, macho man (Macho man, yeah)
I've got to be a macho man (I've got to be a)
Macho, macho man, yeah
I've got to be a macho
All right

Macho, macho man (Yeah, yeah)
I've got to be a macho man 
Macho, macho man 
I've got to be a macho
All right

Uh
Macho, baby

Body (body), body, body, wanna feel my body
Body, baby, body, body, come and thrill my body
Body, baby, body, body, love to funk, my body
Body, baby, body, body, it's so hot, my body

Uh
So hot, yeah, my body
All right

Every man he ought to be a macho, macho man
To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand
Have your own lifestyles and ideals
Possess the strength of confidence, that's the skill
You can best believe that he's a macho man
He's the special god son in anybody's land
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Macho, macho man (Macho man, yeah)
I gotta be a macho man (I've got to be a)
Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho

Macho, macho man 
I gotta be a macho man (I've got to be a)
Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho

Macho, macho man (Dig my muscles)
I gotta be a macho man 
Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho
Hey!

Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho man
I gotta be a mucho mucho, macho macho man
I gotta be a macho

At the height of my private fondness for disco, I had an album by The Village People and a poster of them up on my wall (which was really saying something since I was only allowed to have one poster up at a time -- I think I took down a cute kitten poster to put up the one of these six mucho macho men). Of course I thought they were sexy guys and of course I had no idea they were gay -- I don't think I knew what gay was at the time. When I would see Paul Lynde on Hollywood Squares or Charles Nelson Reilly on Match Game or even Rip Taylor on The $1.98 Beauty Show, I just thought they were Hollywood flamboyant-types.

I just honestly can't remember the first time I would have been aware of same sex relationships -- who was the first openly gay person in celebrity culture? (So, I googled that and this article isn't exhaustive, but I'm pretty sure they mean that there wasn't anyone that I would have been aware of in the late 70s.) Of course, there was Billy Crystal playing a gay character on Soap, and there was nothing at all flamboyant about him or the character -- just like the other storyline, where Billy Crystal's brother married a black woman, I didn't see anything scandalous about their situations; these were just normal people living their lives; Soap probably did more than I knew to break down bigotry in my generation.

Now, I say all this not because it would have affected my love for The Village People and their music if I had found out they were gay (this wasn't a love like my fangirl crush on Andy Gibb), but I wonder what these campy men thought of fans like me -- naive little girls in small town Canada -- who were totally oblivious to even the gay cliche of a butch-leather-biker character. I imagine their songs came across as so much fun because they were having fun -- putting on such obviously gay (yet non-flamboyant) characters, singing songs with double entendres about young men getting together at the YMCA or In The Navy -- and having the straight world sing along. And we were singing along: even my brothers would get off the couch and start marching and chanting to, "They want you, they want you, they want you as a new recruit". I'm sure my brothers had no idea that The Village People were gay either, and again, I don't mean this as a witch hunt -- I'm just fascinated by the knowledge that I had no idea, and if The Village People were playing a big game, I thoroughly enjoyed the fun of it.