I thought I was gay

What's so gay about Petula Clark singing her biggest hit? Or is this in reference to the flamboyant dancers?

you either git it or your don't

I knew I was gay when eight-year-old me caught a sight of this.

....

I had no idea Suze Orman can sing.

....

WoW Petula was TINY; I was a big fan when I was a kid, she was as big as they can come. A supastath.

Downtown is definitely one of the signature songs of its era.

Do only gays remember Joey Heatherton? Are we the keepers of Pop history, kitsch and camp?

Petula was a child star touring with Julie Andrews

I love Petula Clark! Back in the early '90s, before Internet days, I was working in an office with an old gay guy and every time I heard a song I liked on the radio, I'd ask him what it was. And it was always Petula Clark! Besides Downtown, I also love There's a Place Where We Can Go.

That guy dancing on the right at 0:50 was all kinds of gay.

La gadoue was a massive hit in Europe

My favorite

[quote] That guy dancing on the right at 0:50 was all kinds of gay.

they're having fun, it's sweet

Why don’t we have wholesome entertainment anymore?

R14 I miss those years. I was a kid, but the late 60's/early 70's were so full of joy and hope

I love Petula's [italic]chansons.[/italic]

Here is Ya Ya Twist

I agree, r17 ... I wasn't born until the early 1980s, but my mom was a teen during the 60s and I always felt a nostalgia through her. Like ... I am missing something I remember but have never lived through.

R19, it was different, it felt very lighthearted and safe. I am nostalgic too. there was an enormous cultural shift in the mid 70's, with the petrol crisis, and the world has never been the same for me

That's funny. My dad was born in 1948 and he had this Petula Clark-type experience of the 60s, and my mom was born in 1952 and had a pretty traumatic experience of the 60s.

He was poor in North Carolina, much of his small town was family, etc. He's an eternal optimist.

My mom was from Arlington, VA, just outside of DC. Her school had integration tensions, lots of drugs, Hell's Angels, the American Nazi Party headquarters was a couple blocks from her school, she went to school with kids of CIA agents and diplomats, etc. Totally different world. Her 60s was The Doors, not Petula Clark.

R21, yes I guess both sides were there

[quote]I also love There's a Place Where We Can Go.

I believe you meant "I Know a Place."

I wonder why she's singing this song in 1967. It was old hat by then, and she'd had many more hits that followed it.

Dude, I don’t get it 🤷🏾‍♂️

it's her signature song

"Downtown" became "Ciao Ciao" in Italy.

A nice, if tepid, try with the hair and the dress and the dancers....

But THIS will not only confirm your gayness, but it will IMMERSE you in it.

Let go, OP.

And she was singing live. No fucking track to lip synch with.

R15 r17 my parents and grandparents used to love a variety shows. Now they're just a relic.

This is one of the songs that made me realize that I was gay...

R30, today’s variety shows are the likes of The Voice, American Idol & The Masked Singer.

I love dancers like the ones featured in the OP / "Downtown" video. The guys were the guys. Nobody was obsessed with whether or not they were gay. Yeah, people may have assumed they were gay, but no one really talked about it. People were interested in the whole presentation and entertainment value.

If those same dances were recreated today, everyone would be completely obsessed with the sexual orientation of the men. Everyone would be tweeting and dragging the guys (or praising them). But their sexual orientation would be a hot topic. It would be a very judgmental frenzy.

No one said it because being openly gay was considered unthinkable

exactly R32, that what fraus do...pretend to support us, and put us in a nice little box with a label on it, that 's no more escapable and no less visible than this...

R30 that is FABULOUS! Never saw that before.

Here's another one for me:

It was only 1967, r24. "Downtown" had been released just a little over two years prior to her appearing on the show. She was on Dean Martin a lot, I'm sure she sang a bunch of different songs over the years.

There's something about that song - along with Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night," - that seem subtextually gay in light of the era in which they were popular.

"Downtown" is very much about growing up feeling disconnected and isolated in a small town, and how it's important to escape that life and go to the city to feel alive.

To me the key line in "Downtown" is, "Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to guide them along."

I love Petula (and listen to her all the time), but prefer Dusty.

I love this 2/5/1970 episode from “Top of the Pops”. Especially because of the female dancers in the background. They’re wearing the mini-est of mini-skirts, yet somehow manage to look classy and innocent.

That's so well put R37, thank you for that. As a very young gayling in the late 60's hearing that song it immediately spoke to me and I could never figure out why. I was just a kid, not even old enough to understand what gay was but obviously it was already there. Ironically, I moved to a big city when I turned 18 and never left.

This is from the Popbitch gossip site from a couple of years back…

One of the all-time greatest celebrity urban legends, a group of friends were supposedly out on a golfing jolly to Gleneagles and were sat in the clubhouse having a ‘celebrity shag’ conversation.

Sean Connery walks in, so a couple of the lads shout over to him “Hey Sean, bet you’ve had a celebrity shag or two… What’s your best ever?” Connery just grimaced and walked out.

Later on, some of the lads were still sitting around and Sean walks back in. He comes over to the table and says, “1964. Petula Clark. Up the arse.”

Before turning on his heel and walking out.

Appreciating Barbra's performance of "He Touched Me" in Central Park told me I was on the road to being gay.

DL introduced me to to this one but gayling me would have loved it. The leap at :52!

The best cover of "Downtown"!

Aw thank you for that, R40.

This is for those of us who are younger and who identified with the more punk version of the song . . .

[Quote]You can't sing a protest song without a fabulous gown, a glamorous wig, and matching heels.

R43 Indeed!