This song was released last year, but somehow it passed me by until last night, when it played following the 20th anniversary production of Jonathan Harvey’s play Beautiful Thing, at the Liverpool Playhouse.
The song is Same Love, by rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis, with vocals by Mary Lambert. Macklemore, aka Ben Haggerty, touches on several gay rights issues, including religion, ex-gay conversion therapy and the homophobia in his own music genre:
If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me.
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
“Man, that’s gay,” gets dropped on the daily.
We become so numb to what we’re saying.
A culture founded from oppression,
Yet we don’t have acceptance for ’em.
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board:
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it,
And gay is synonymous with the lesser.
On Twitter, @beautthing wrote: “If you only see one music video today, let it be Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It’s our walkout music.”
As an aside, if you live in the UK, try and catch Beautiful Thing on its limited tour. It’s in Liverpool until 1 June before visiting Leeds and Brighton. It’s a very sweet love story. Otherwise, the 1996 film version, while a different experience from the stage play, is a real treat.