| "Lola" | |||||
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| Single by The Kinks from the album Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One |
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| B-side | "Berkeley Mews" (UK) "Mindless Child of Motherhood" (USA) |
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| Released | 12 June 1970 (UK) 28 June, 1970 (USA) |
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| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | Apr-May 1970 at Morgan Studios, Willesden, London | ||||
| Genre | Rock and roll | ||||
| Length | 4:03 | ||||
| Label | Pye 7N 17961 Reprise 0930 |
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| Writer | Ray Davies | ||||
| Producer | Ray Davies | ||||
| The Kinks singles chronology | |||||
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"Lola" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks which details a romantic encounter between a man and a transvestite he meets in a Soho, London club. One of the Kinks' best-known songs, the single was 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. It was ranked 422nd on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is famous for its C-D-E power riff.
Contents |
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 OK 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 to care, I think. | ” |
Accounts also indicate a similar incident occurred at about the same time during a Kinks European tour in the mid-1960's, cementing the song's scenario in Davies' mind for later use.
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 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-a-long anthem at concerts, as they struggled to regain a footing in the US concert market after a five year absence.
Album version vs. the single release
"Lola" was originally released as a single in the United Kingdom by Pye Records in June of 1970 (Pye 7N17961). The first single release of this song had to be censored slightly: not because of its controversial sexual content, but because of the mention of Coca-Cola on the original version. The BBC refused to play the single because of this trademarked commercial reference, and so it was re-recorded with the phrase cherry cola instead. Davies actually had to fly back to England from a tour in the US to overdub the master tape, then return to the US; this true story was widely used in the song's promotion on American AM radio. A second rumour about the censorship also exists: that the reference to Coca-Cola was in fact an underground term for cocaine, and therefore unacceptable for play on the BBC. The BBC also initially refused to play the Beatles' song Come Together, for the same reason of mentioning Coca-Cola. The altered single was available only in mono while the album version was available in stereo. The mono single version with the edited line was featured as a bonus track on the CD Reissue of "Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One".
Covers and other versions
- In 1970, Nina & Mike had a hit with a German version of the song [1], lacking any reference to transvestism.
- In 1971, an instrumental version of the song was released by the Kinks on the soundtrack to the film Percy.
- "Lola" was covered by The Raincoats on their 1979 album The Raincoats, Bad Manners on their 1993 album Fat Sound, and also by Madness on their 2005 album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1.
- The song was also covered by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran in 1990.
- In 1981, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of the song, which he called Yoda, replacing "Lola" with the character Yoda from Star Wars.
- In 2004, pop-rock bands McFly and Busted covered Lola, as a b-side on McFly's first single.
- Danish band Natural Born Hippies also recorded a cover of this song, having changed parts of the lyrics. The song entitled 'Lola (if you ever...)' appeared on their 1999 album Popshit.
- In his book Have A Nice Day, Mick Foley claims that he wrote a song to the tune of Lola, called 'Boner', which he performed at his high school talent show with the BP (Brothers Penis). Foley and the BP were stripped of the crown of $40 worth of Chinese food because the song was deemed 'inappropriate'.
- In 2005, transsexual musician Dana Baitz recorded a cover version of the song, telling the story from Lola's perspective.
- 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!" The gag appears in the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood".
- In 2007, the song once again circulates thanks to a commercial made by Coca Cola, starting with a man singing the chorus of the song in front of a video store. The man is later sampled and the commercial ends with a rougher version of the original song.
- Reggae Singer Nicky Thomas covered it as well.
- In September 2007, Robbie Williams recorded a cover of Lola to celebrate the 40th birthday of BBC Radio 1 [2].
- In 2007, Rock 101 played the 'Luongo song' (la la la luongo), about the Vancouver Canucks all star goaltender, Roberto Luongo, who, in his first season, propelled the team to be the best Canucks season in their 37 year history.
- Variations on the song feature throughout the film 101 Reykjavik (2000, dir. Baltasar Kormákur). The soundtrack to the film was arranged by Damon Albarn.
References
- The Kinks. Lola vs Powerman and the Moneygoround: Part One. Reprise, 1970. First reissued CD in 1987.
- Morris, Jeff. ""Details for Yoda - "Weird Al" Yankovic ." The Doctor Is In!. rec.music.dementia. 03 Feb. 2006 http://mypage.iu.edu/~jbmorris/cgi-bin/plinfo_view.pl?SYN060243.
- Savage, Jon. The Kinks: The Official Biography. London: Faber and Faber, 1984.
- Lyrics http://www.lyricsdomain.com/11/kinks/lola.html
