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For other meanings, see Lola (disambiguation)

Lola is a popular song by the Kinks which details an encounter between a naive young man and a person named "Lola" in a Soho club. The single, taken from the album Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, was released in June, 1970, and reached #2 in the UK charts and #9 in the US.

The song is controversial because there is a lingering question as to Lola's gender. The question is whether Lola is a woman who looks and acts like a man or a man who looks, acts, and possibly even dresses like a woman (i.e. a transvestite).

One of the key lyrics is "I'm not dumb but I can't understand,/Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man." which many take to indicate that Lola is a man dressed as a woman even though it could just as easily mean that Lola is a very masculine woman. But other lyrics such as "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls/It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola" suggest that the song is a more concerned with a generalized idea of gender confusion. This is also supported by the notion in the song that the narrator is not the most "Manly" man. The narrator is portrayed as naive, weak, and as having "never ever kissed a girl before." The narrator is obviously not, as he says in his own words "the world's most masculine man." And this line comes from the most important passage in the song.

Immediatley before the last chorus, the narrator sings, "Well I'm not the world's most masculine man/But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man/And so is Lola" Many take this last passage to be a specific indication that Lola is a man acting like a woman, but the problem is that this passage is syntacticly ambiguous. Those who believe that this lyric indicates that Lola is a man are taking these lines to mean that that the narrator is a man and that Lola is also a man. These people are focusing their attention on the specific passage in the lyric "I'm a man/And so is Lola." An equally valid interpretation, however, is that this passge indicates that the narrator is GLAD that he's a man and that Lola is also GLAD that the narrator is a man. These people are focusing their attention on the specific section of the lyric "I'm GLAD I'm a man/And so is Lola."

[All of the quotes from the lyrics are from the published version of the lyrics on pages 6 and 7 of the liner notes to the CD Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround: Reprise Records 6423-2]

The Kinks found it necessary to censor the song, not for its controversial sexual content, but for the use of the word "coca cola" on the original album version. The BBC refused to play the single because of this commercial reference, so it had to be re-recorded with the phrase "cherry cola" instead.

"Lola" was covered by The Raincoats on their 1979 album The Raincoats, and also by Madness on their 2005 album The Dangermen Sessions Volume One.

In 1985, "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song, replacing "Lola" with the character Yoda from Star Wars - the above line was replaced by "Well, I’m not dumb but I can’t understand, how he can lift me in the air just by raising his hand"

The song was also covered by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran in 1990.

Notes

Soho and nearby locations in London feature in several of Ray Davis' other songs, including "Denmark Street" and "Life on the Road".

External link

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1158

This song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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 '''Lola''' is a popular song by [[the Kinks]] which details an encounter between a naive young man and a person named "Lola" in a [[Soho]] club. The single, taken from the album [[Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One]], was released in June, [[1970]], and reached #2 in the UK charts and #9 in the US.
-The song is contreversial because there is a lingering question as to Lola's gender.  The question is whether Lola is a woman who looks and acts like a man or a man who looks, acts, and possibly even dresses like a woman (i.e. a [[transvestite]]).
+The song is controversial because there is a lingering question as to Lola's gender.  The question is whether Lola is a woman who looks and acts like a man or a man who looks, acts, and possibly even dresses like a woman (i.e. a [[transvestite]]).
 One of the key lyrics is "''I'm not dumb but I can't understand,/Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man.''" which many take to indicate that Lola is a man dressed as a woman even though it could just as easily mean that Lola is a very masculine woman. But other lyrics such as "''Girls will be boys and boys will be girls/It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola''" suggest that the song is a more concerned with a generalized idea of gender confusion. This is also supported by the notion in the song that the narrator is not the most "Manly" man. The narrator is portrayed as naive, weak, and as having "''never ever kissed a girl before.''" The narrator is obviously not, as he says in his own words "''the world's most masculine man.''" And this line comes from the most important passage in the song.