The Kinks Songs - Lola Lyrics

The Kinks - Lola

The Kinks - Lola Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Lola vs. Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part 1
Released: 1970

Lola Lyrics

I met her in a club down in North Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola
C-O-L-A cola

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her name and in a dark brown voice she said, "Lola"
L-O-L-A Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Well, I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walk like a woman and talk like a man
Oh my Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Well, we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said, "Little boy won't you come home with me?"

Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy
But when I looked in her eyes
Well, I almost fell for my Lola
Lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Lola lo lo lo lo Lola lo lo lo lo Lola

I pushed her away, I walked to the door
I fell to the floor, I got down on my knees
I looked at her, and she at me

Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
Lo lo lo lo Lola

Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world
Except for Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Well I left home just a week before
And I've never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said, "Little boy, gonna make you a man"

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
Lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola

Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola
Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola
Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola
Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola
Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola
Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola, lo lo lo lo Lola...

Writer/s: DAVIES, RAYMOND DOUGLAS
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Lola Song Chart

This song is about a cross-dresser. According to a 2004 piece in Rolling Stone magazine, it may have been inspired by the famous transgender actress Candy Darling, who Kinks lead singer Ray Davies allegedly dated for a brief time. This is the same Candy mentioned in Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" ("Candy came from out on the island, in the backroom she was everybody's darling").

The other possibility, which is stated in The Kinks: The Official Biography , is that Ray Davies wrote the lyrics after their manager got drunk at a club and started dancing with what he thought was a woman. Toward the end of the night, his stubble started showing, but their manager was too tanked to notice.

Said Davies: "'Lola' was a love song, and the person they fall in love with is a transvestite. It's not their fault - they didn't know - but you know it's not going to last. It was based on a story about my manager."

The Kinks came up with the riff after messing around with open strings on guitars. The group's guitarist, Dave Davies, contended that he deserved a songwriting credit on the track, leading to additional friction with his brother Ray, who got the sole composer credit.

This revived the career of The Kinks, at least in America where their popularity was fading. Their previous Top 40 in the States was "Sunny Afternoon" in 1966.

The line "You drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola" was recorded as "it tastes just like Coca-Cola." The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) refused to play it because of the commercial reference, so Ray Davies flew from New York to London to change the lyric and get the song on the air.

Lola is mentioned in the 1981 Kinks song "Destroyer," which begins: "Met a girl called Lola and I took her back to my place."

Ray Davies, who wrote this song, told Rolling Stone in 2014 why this song didn't cause more of an uproar considering its storyline. "The subject matter was concealed," he said. "It's a crafty way of writing. I say, 'She woke up next to me,' and people think it's a woman. The story unfolds better than if the song were called 'I Dated a Drag Queen.'"

The Kinks' fans were not the type of people who would relate to a transvestite, but they loved this. It opened the door for artists like Lou Reed and David Bowie to explore homosexuality in songs that straight people liked too.

Weird Al Yankovic recorded a parody of this song entitled "Yoda" (based on the Star Wars movies) for his 1985 album Dare to Be Stupid. (thanks, Jerro - New Alexandria, PA)

Ray Davies used his National Steel resonator guitar for the first time on this song. He recalled to Uncut: "On 'Lola' I wanted an intro similar to what we used on Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, which was two Fender acoustic guitars and Dave's electric guitar so I went down to Shaftesbury Avenue and bought a Martin guitar, and this National guitar that I got for £80, then double-tracked the Martin, and double-tracked the National – that's what got that sound."

The Kinks probably weren't familiar with it, but an American song published in 1918 also mentions Lola and Coca-Cola. In "Ev'ry Day'll Be Sunday When The Town Goes Dry," we hear the line, "At the table with Lola they will serve us Coca-Cola."

Ray Davies told interviewer Daniel Rachel (The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters) that he didn't initially show the lyrics to the band. "We just rehearsed it with the la-la la-la Lo-la chorus which came first. I had a one-year-old daughter at the time and she was singing along to it."