Before Stonewall, queer culture in 20th-century America was almost always swept under the rug. But nightclub legend Troy Walker has been performing as his authentic self since the late ‘50s, and his most iconic song is a before-its-time expression of queer love.
Walker hit the scene in L.A. in 1958 at just 20 years old and quickly became a nightlife staple, usually decked out in traditionally feminine clothes. At the time, brazen queerness like his was rarely seen out in the open.
Walker’s debut album, Troy Walker Recorded Live, came out in 1962 and featured covers of old standards like “Stormy Weather” and “Sinner Man,” as well as one controversial single that put Walker’s queerness front and center: “Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe.”
The song was a love letter to a dreamy man named Joe. Walker was far from the first to sing it — “Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe” was written for the 1943 movie musical Cabin in the Sky, and the original version was sung by Ethel Waters. It’s since been covered by all-time great vocalists like Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, and Bette Midler.
But the lyrics take on a queer tilt when they’re sung by a man like Walker: “It seems like happiness is just a thing called Joe. / He’s got a smile that makes the lilacs want to grow. / He’s got a way that makes the angels heave a sigh / When they know little Joe’s passing by,” he croons on the chorus.
Walker’s version isn’t even as explicitly queer as it could be. Where previously recorded versions of the jazz standard were sung in the first person, Walker’s was in the second: “Then he’ll kiss me,” becomes, “Then he’ll kiss you.” Of course, that was still surrounded by Walker’s homoerotically charged compliments for Joe.
Naturally, Walker’s recording made waves in conservative midcentury America. In a 2010 interview with radio station KXLU, Walker said DJs refused to play the track.
“They sent it back, saying at that time, they wouldn’t play music by a man singing to a man,” he recalled. “We lost a lot of airplay. We had hits around the world. We had Brazil, we had Italy, we had Argentina — #1 off the album. But the United States, for the most part, sent it back.”
Walker added that the rejections were “kind of a heartbreak,” because he hadn’t even intended for the song to be about a gay romance — or so he says. “It was just a song that I happened to really like,” Walker said. “Of course, my other half’s name was Joe.”
Just a coincidence, he insisted, though Walker’s queerness was hardly a secret.
Listen.
Walker’s career continued through the end of the 20th century. Along the way, his comedic country hit “Marijuana Munchies” became a staple on novelty radio show Dr. Demento.
In 2019, a documentary about Walker’s life, TROY! The Original Lady Boy, premiered at the Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival. It’s now streaming on Tubi.
If the name Joe makes you think of a certain president, you’re in good company. The best possible company, actually: Cher. The legendary diva released a cover of “Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe” in 2020 to support Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. Her version makes the lyrics explicitly political: “Right now our country’s gloomy, fear is in the air / But when Joe’s president, hope is everywhere.” The music video is intercut with Cher’s performance and clips of Biden out on the campaign trail.
With Biden’s newly announced 2024 bid for re-election, maybe we can expect a remix?
Check out Cher’s cover here.
dbmcvey
Thank you! Very interesting.
Kangol2
Informative and very interesting. And to think that this song originated in an early Black American film, was covered by singers of various races, took on another resonance by an out gay singer in the late 1950s, and was covered by Cher in 2020 is kind of astonishing but also a great mirror of how American culture so often works!