A Powerhouse Performance of One of the First Gay Liberation Anthems

The Wild Reed’s 2024 Queer Appreciation series concludes with something special: Shirley Bassey’s 1989 live performance of “I Am What I Am.”

I share this video on the 41st anniversary of the Broadway premiere of La Cage aux Folles. The show would go on to run for 1,761 performances and garner six Tony Awards. It also broke barriers for gay representation by becoming the first hit Broadway musical centered on a gay relationship.

The musical’s act one finale, “I Am What I Am,” received praise as a “gay anthem” and has been widely recorded and performed by straight and gay singers alike, including Marti Webb, Sammy Davis Jr., Amanda Lear, John Barrowman, Sandra Mihanovich, and Gloria Gaynor, who turned it into a disco classic.

Shirley Bassey has also recorded the song; she’s performed it many times in concert as well. Her 1989 powerhouse performance on The Les Dawson Show is one of my favorites of her live renditions of this anthemic song of self-acceptance, truth-telling and liberation. Enjoy!





See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Unique . . . Yes, You!
• The Challenge to Become Ourselves
• Celebrating Our Sanctifying Truth
• The Power of Our Stories
• Getting It Right
• Real Holiness
• The Source is Within You
• Nakhane’s Hymn to Freedom
• Making the Connections . . . Then and Now
• Remembering Dusty Springfield’s “Daring” 1979 Gay-Affirming Song

For the previous posts in the 2024 Queer Appreciation series, see:
• “Let Us Be the Incarnation of Inclusion”
• Durrand Bernarr, “a Genre-Bending Talent”
• Kyle Kvamme, Advocate for LGBTQIA+ Refugees
• Remembering Paco Jamandreu, Evita’s Gay Friend and Confidant
• Christina Cauterucci on the Olympics Moment That Shows Where the Anti-Trans Movement Has Brought Us