Simply The West

I was standing in a bar in east Belfast on Saturday afternoon when the entire place broke out into a Village People song. This was a bit peculiar in that none of the drinkers seemed to have a liking for late Seventies disco, performed by muscular clones with handlebar moustaches. But they all knew the chorus line of the 1979 hit, 'Go West', notably with a few lyrical revisions. "Stand up for the Ulstermen", they bellowed as the rugby team went scrumming down with Leinster.

Only a few weeks before and I'd heard the same chorus being used to remember the Hillsborough dead. This time the refrain was, "Justice for the 96". Indeed, there's been almost 20 years of terrace value in the anthem, involving the likes of Manchester United, Norwich City and er, West Bromwich Albion.

The original version of the song was an allusion to San Francisco, a haven for the gay lifestyle. Just as the Village People had endorsed the YMCA, the US Navy and indeed Greenwich Village as places to find adventure, so the Castro District was the happening location in California. Historically, the chorus line had been an encouragement to the 19th century American settlers, but the spirit was happily revived by the authors of 'Macho Man' and the rest.

It wasn't their biggest hit, but the song took a fresh aspect with The Pet Shop Boys in 1993. They had performed the song at an AIDS benefit the previous year, and it followed that the tune now had an elegiac tone, looking back to an era when mortality wasn't such a pressing concern. There's a touching moment at the end of the band's video when the constructivist workers from the Soviet bloc (dressed in red and white) ascend a gleaming stairway to heaven. In this respect, it's not unlike the 1989 film 'Longtime Companion', which ends with the ghosts of Fire Island, all gone. Another requiem.

None of this may have been an issue to the rugby fans in Belfast on Saturday. As Leinster extended the score difference, the chorus line became less vocal, until there was nothing much to sing about. The occasion may have passed, but the song will live indefinitely.