Lola (song)

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"Lola"
UK Cover
Single by The Kinks
from the album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
B-side	"Berkeley Mews" (UK) "Mindless Child of Motherhood" (USA)
Released	12 June 1970
Format	7" single
Recorded	Apr-May 1970 at Morgan Studios, Willesden, London
Genre	Rock
Length	4:03
Label	Pye 7N 17961 Reprise 0930
Writer(s)	Ray Davies
Producer	Ray Davies
The Kinks singles chronology
"Victoria" (1969) "Lola" (1970) "Apeman" (1970)
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One track listing "Get Back in Line" (4) "Lola" (5) "Top of the Pops" (6) Audio sample file info · help Alternate cover Mainland Europe cover. Note the misspelling of "Berkeley" and "Mews".

"Lola (live)"
Single by The Kinks
from the album One for the Road
B-side	"Celluloid Heroes (live)"
Released	July 1980
Format	7" single
Recorded	23 September 1979 (1979-09-23) at Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Genre	Rock
Length	3:56 (US) 4:06 (Europe)
Label	Arista AS 0541 (US) Arista 404 (Europe)
Writer(s)	Ray Davies
Producer	Ray Davies
The Kinks singles chronology
"Catch Me Now I'm Falling" (US, 1979) "Lola (live)" (US, 1980) "You Really Got Me (live)" (US, 1980)

"Lola" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by The Kinks which details a romantic encounter between a young man and a transvestite he meets in a Soho club in London.

Released in June 1970, in the UK on the 12th and in the USA on the 28th, the single was taken from the album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One and reached #2 in the UK charts^[1] and #9 in the US^[2]. It was ranked 422nd on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[3] It is famous for its C-D-E power riff.

Contents 1 Inspiration for the song 2 Live single 3 Chart performance 4 Cover versions 5 Parodies 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

[edit] Inspiration for the song

In the book The Kinks: The Official Biography, Ray Davies says that he was inspired to write this song after the band manager Robert Wace had spent the night dancing with a transvestite. Davies said,

“

I remembered an incident in a club... in his apartment Robert Wace had been dancing with this black woman, and he said, ‘I’m really on to a thing here.’ And it was okay until we left at six in the morning and then I said, ‘Have you seen the stubble?’ He said ‘Yeah,’ but he was too pissed [drunk] to care, I think.

”

Accounts also indicate a similar incident occurred at about the same time during a Kinks European tour in the mid-1960s, cementing the song's scenario in Davies' mind for later use.^{[citation needed]}

In late 1969, Davies' father encouraged him to focus his energy on writing another worldwide hit single after a long dry spell for the band, and "Lola" was the result. Davies and the Kinks spent extra time and effort recording and crafting the song at Morgan Studios in London during early 1970.

In his autobiography, Dave Davies mentions that he came up with the music for what would become Lola. After Dave had shown his brother the music, Ray came up with the lyrics. Dave goes on to claim his brother took all the credit for the song. The original lyrics had the word "Coca-Cola" but because of BBC Radio's policy against product placement, those words were changed to the generic "cherry cola" for the single release.^[4]

The success of the single had important ramifications for the band's career at a critical time, allowing them to negotiate a new contract with RCA Records, construct their own London Studio, and assume more creative and managerial control. "Lola" also became their most popular sing-along anthem at concerts, as they struggled to regain a footing in the US concert market after a five year absence.

[edit] Live single

A live version of the song, recorded in 1979 in Providence, Rhode Island, was released in the US in July 1980 to promote the live album One for the Road. The b-side was the live version of "Celluloid Heroes". The single was a moderate success, reaching #81 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] It was also released in some countries in Europe (although not the UK) in April 1981. It was a big hit in the Netherlands, matching the #1 peak of the original version^[5], and in Belgium where it reached #2. It also charted in Australia. Although not released as a stand-alone single in the UK, it was included on a bonus single (b/w the live version of "David Watts") with initial copies of "Better Things" in June 1981.

[edit] Chart performance

Chart (1970)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart[1]	2
Austrian Singles Chart[6]	2
Dutch GfK chart[7]	1
Dutch Top 40[8]	1
Irish Singles Chart[9]	1
Italian Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart[10]	4
US Billboard Hot 100[2]	9
Chart (1980/1981)	Peak position
Belgian Singles Chart Live version	2
Dutch GfK chart[11] Live version	1
Dutch Top 40[12] Live version	1
US Billboard Hot 100[2] Live version	81

¹ Live version

[edit] Cover versions

• "Lola" was covered by Don Fardon in 1974.
• "Lola" was covered by The Raincoats on their 1979 album, The Raincoats.
• Andy Taylor (of Duran Duran) covered the song for his 1990 album Dangerous.
• Bad Manners covered the song on their 1993 album Fat Sound.
• Vancouver band Mollies Revenge covered the song on their 1997 album Every Dirty Word. The band's lead singer Yvette told an interviewer that "For Ray Davies, Lola was a heterosexual disappointment and Lola for me is a homosexual disappointment. You find this beautiful woman and she turns out to be a man."^[13]
• In 2005, transsexual musician Dana Baitz recorded a cover version of the song, telling the story from Lola's perspective.
• Madness covered the song on their 2005 album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1. In the sleevenotes, Lee Thompson mentions an unreleased answer song written by Thompson and Chris Foreman for their Crunch! project, titled "Mistress, Mistress".
• In 2005 Dutch singer Jan Rot recorded a Dutch translation for his album Nachtlied, a bundle of songs about the night
• In September 2007, Robbie Williams recorded a cover of "Lola" to celebrate the 40th birthday of BBC Radio 1. His version spent one week at number 91 in the Romanian Singles Chart.^[14]
• McFly collaborated with Busted for a cover of the song (which was a B-side on the "5 Colours in Her Hair" single)
• "Lola" was covered by Travis in 2008 as a b-side for the single "Something Anything", released on 15 September, and is featured in their latest album Ode to J. Smith, released 29 September.
• Spanish rock band M-Clan did a Spanish language version of the song in their album Sopa fria.
• Contestant Mookie Morris performed the song on Canadian Idol (Season 6) in 2008.

[edit] Parodies

• In 1981, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of the song, which he called "Yoda", replacing "Lola" with the character Yoda from Star Wars. When Weird Al first recorded it he did it with many electric guitars and synthetic music. It was more "rock n roll-ish" and the Kinks didn't like it, and made him re-record it to sound more like their original recording of "Lola".^{[citation needed]} The original recording of "Yoda" remains one of the rarest of Weird Al's parodies.
• In the mid-1990s; Weetabix had a parody for one of their commercials replacing "Lola" with Akela.
• On Matt Groening's Futurama, Zapp Brannigan sings the opening lyrics in a futile attempt to woo Leela. He replaces the lyrics "L-O-L-A, Lola," with "L-E-E-L-A, Leela!", in a style that pays tribute to William Shatner's recorded performances. The gag appears in the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood".
• In 2009, after a 10-2 Buffalo Sabres blowout over the Edmonton Oilers, a Calgary radio station (The Fan 960) played a song called "Goala" complete with sound clips from the post game press conferences and Rick Jeanneret sound bites.

[edit] See also

• List of songs banned by the BBC

[edit] External links

• Official Ray Davies website
• The Official Ray Davies Forum - "The Old Grey Board"
• The Official Ray Davies Forum on YouTube

[edit] References

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