| "Glad to Be Gay" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song byTom Robinson Band | |
| from the album Rising Free | |
| Released | February 1978 |
| Genre | Folk punk |
| Length | 5:04 |
| Label | EMI Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Tom Robinson |
"Glad to Be Gay" is a song byBritishpunk rock/new wave groupTom Robinson Band. It is one of their defining songs,[1] and has been considered Britain's nationalgay anthem.[2]
The song was originally written byTom Robinson for aLondongay pride parade in 1976, inspired by the directness and confrontational style of theSex Pistols.[3] An out gay singer, he subsequently formed the Tom Robinson Band with three straight musicians.[3]
Robinson said he wrote the song to the tune of "Sara" byBob Dylan: "But I realised I couldn't rip off Dylan, so I wrote new music, added the chorus and gave it that more upbeat swing."[4]
"Glad to Be Gay" is built on four verses criticising British society's attitudes towards gay people. The first verse criticises theBritish police for raidinggay pubs for no reason after the decriminalisation of homosexuality by the1967 Sexual Offences Act.
The second verse points to the hypocrisy ofGay News being prosecuted for obscenity instead of magazines likePlayboy or the tabloid newspaperThe Sun, which published photographs of topless girls onPage 3. It also criticises the way homosexual people are portrayed in other parts of the press, especially in the newspapersDaily Telegraph,Sunday People andSunday Express. The third verse points out the extreme consequences ofhomophobia, such as violence against gay people.
In the final verse, the song makes a plea for support of the gay cause. This part, originally intended as a bitter attack on complacency of gay people at the Pride march in 1976, became a rallying call for solidarity from people irrespective of their orientation.
"Glad to Be Gay" was originally released in February 1978 on the band's liveEPRising Free.[3] The EP reached No. 18 on theUK Singles Chart,[3] after the band's initial success with the single "2-4-6-8 Motorway", which peaked at No. 5. At that time, EPs were also eligible to chart on theOCC singles chart.
Although "Glad to Be Gay" became the most popular track from the EP,BBC Radio 1 refused to broadcast the song on its Top 40 chart show, choosing the less controversial opening track "Don't Take No for an Answer" instead.[3] Even though the Chart Show wouldn't play it,John Peel did broadcast the track.[4] On the rival stationCapital Radio, the song reached No. 1 on the listener-voted Hitline chart for six consecutive weeks.[3]
It was subsequently featured on the American pressing of the band's debut albumPower in the Darkness in May 1978, and the 2004 UK reissue of the album.[5]
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 18 |
| Capital Radio Listeners' Hitline | 1 |
Over the course of his solo career, Tom Robinson has performed the song with its lyric updated to reflect current events.[6] There have been ten versions officially released.[7] Later lyrics addressedAIDS ("The message is simple and obvious, please – just lay off the patients and let's fight the disease"), and extended attacks on thetabloid press.
From 1996, it also addressed[8] what Robinson calls his 'late onsetbisexuality'.[9]
The 6 November 1977, episode ofGranada Television'sSo It Goes featured a live performance of the song by the Tom Robinson Band.
In 1979, Tom Robinson performed at theSecret Policeman's Ball, a benefit concert staged by the British section ofAmnesty International to raise funds for its research and campaign work in thehuman rights arena. For this performance he reinstated a verse about Peter Wells not used since the original demo. Wells was a young man, later shot dead, who had been imprisoned for2+1⁄2 years for sex with an 18-year-old man. Had his partner been a woman it would have been legal, but the gay age of consent was 21 as opposed to 16 for heterosexuals. Robinson sang this pointedly, as Amnesty were refusing to acknowledge gay prisoners as "political prisoners".[10]
Queercore bandSister George covered the song – retitled "100xNo" – on their 1993 albumDrag King. In 2008, the song was covered by theFinnish groupEläkeläiset.
In the last episode of the first series of theBBC One dramaAshes to Ashes, a 31-year-old fictionalised version of Tom Robinson (portrayed byMathew Baynton) is incarcerated with several members of theGay Liberation Front. He sings "Glad to Be Gay" in his police-station cell.