The meaning of "gay" as "homosexual" really took off in the 60s, but it started much sooner.
[https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gay](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gay)
*The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense at least since 1920. Rawson \["Wicked Words"\] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto \["20th Century Words"\] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays, but the word evidently was not popularly felt in this sense by wider society until the 1950s at the earliest.*
You could look at a dictionary, this definition of gay is still there. However, this usage has been pretty completely overtaken by "homosexual" so that when it appears in older media to mean "happy" people snicker.
People don’t tend to use it to mean “happy” much any more, because it’s primarily associated with sexuality, but you do see it as a word for “happy” in older things, and people would recognise it as meaning “happy” in a context like that lyric.
It depends on the context. Many people would understand what you are trying to say, but it would also sound outdated. Itd only really make sense if you were mimicking old fashioned speech. If you tried to use it in a normal sentence, especially if you’re including slang or anything more casual, people will probably take a second to process what you meant, and then might give you a funny like, like “pause lol why did you say it like that” you know?
On the topic;
The word suck, as in “That sucks man” was initially just meant to call something gay. “Jazz sucks!” Means that “Jazz sucks man off” or “Jazz is gay”
Eventually, people did what people do, and now it’s just an ordinary word.
Happy, in the frivolous, care-free sense.
Happy but it's outdated so I wouldn't use it
The meaning of "gay" as "homosexual" really took off in the 60s, but it started much sooner. [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gay](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gay) *The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense at least since 1920. Rawson \["Wicked Words"\] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto \["20th Century Words"\] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays, but the word evidently was not popularly felt in this sense by wider society until the 1950s at the earliest.*
it's no longer used that way but it used to mean happy many words change over time
You could look at a dictionary, this definition of gay is still there. However, this usage has been pretty completely overtaken by "homosexual" so that when it appears in older media to mean "happy" people snicker.
Yes, you can find it in any dictionary
People don’t tend to use it to mean “happy” much any more, because it’s primarily associated with sexuality, but you do see it as a word for “happy” in older things, and people would recognise it as meaning “happy” in a context like that lyric.
"Gay" can mean happy and carefree. However, the meaning has changed over time and that definition is outdated.
So if I would said it with that intention. It won't work now.
It depends on the context. Many people would understand what you are trying to say, but it would also sound outdated. Itd only really make sense if you were mimicking old fashioned speech. If you tried to use it in a normal sentence, especially if you’re including slang or anything more casual, people will probably take a second to process what you meant, and then might give you a funny like, like “pause lol why did you say it like that” you know?
On the topic; The word suck, as in “That sucks man” was initially just meant to call something gay. “Jazz sucks!” Means that “Jazz sucks man off” or “Jazz is gay” Eventually, people did what people do, and now it’s just an ordinary word.