I was helping a friend move some things when LOLA by the Kinks came on the radio. This sparked a debate as to whether or not the young man singing the song consumated the relationship with Lola. Anyone?
And while on the topic, what are the specific words at the beginning of the song:
“she walked up to me and she asked me to dance.
I asked her her name and in a XXXXX voice she said, etc.”
My friend swears that it was “in a dark brown voice.” To me it sounds more like “background voice.” Neither make great sense, but background makes better sense to me than dark brown…
Khadaji
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The lyrics, as reported here, suggest “dark brown voice”.
Did the consumate? Well, apparently not within the song, but it was clear intent shortly thereafter.
The lyrics on Lola are deliberately ambiguous although has some pretty strong innuendo. These are from memory: "one thing I can’t understand, why she walk like a woman but talk like a man " and “I’m glad I’m and man and so was Lola.”
although if you fast forward to about 1977-78, and the Sleepwalker albumn, there is a song called Life on the Road. It sure sounds like an autobiographical song to me, and has these lyrics “city women are a tease, but they really like to please” and
“hey are you gay, can you come out and play, and like a fool I said okay.”
Moderator’s Note: As has already been noted, we have a forum (Cafe Society) especially devoted to the discussion of all things literary and artistic, including song lyrics. I’ll move your thread over to there now.
Ehhhhh, I beg to differ, although your interpretation makes sense too. I always thought Ray was telling us that he’s glad he’s a man, and Lola’s one as well.
Always seemed ambiguous to me. Lola is glad that Ray is a man or Lola is glad that both Ray and Lola are men? Could be taken either way, but then check out the Life on the Road lyrics
If, while playing Trivial Pursuit, you ever are asked what they drank in that song, you should say Coca-Cola, not cherry cola. There’s a studio and live version, both of which get airplay, and the lyric is different therein, but the Trivial Pursuit card only has Coca-Cola as the answer.
Oh, were you asking something else?
–Cliffy, who encountered this problem at least seven or eight years ago and is still bitter
I asked her name and in a propervoice she said Lola. L- O - L - A Lola
It was always pretty clear to me that the singer picked up a “woman” who was in fact a tranvestite who called himself Lola. The final line he is saying that “I know what I am, I am a man and so was Lola”
Ray Davies has said that he always had a busy and imaginitive sex life. The story goes that his brother (DAve?)came home and found Ray in bed with 5 women and stated “man you are kinky” hence the name “The Kinks”.
No matter what it may sound like, the real lyric is “dark brown”. I interpret this to mean a low and husky voice.
He wishes! If Ray Davies ever told such a story, he must have been joking. According to his autobiography, he was a virgin the whole time he and Dave were living in the same house. Of the two brothers, Dave was by far the more sexually adventurous and I don’t believe he ever claims to have bedded more than two women at once in his own autobiography.
The origin of the name “The Kinks” is a bit foggy, but the most likely story is the one that says the band was sometimes called “a bunch of kinks” (among other, cruder names) because of their clothes – which don’t seem particularly odd to these modern eyes, but men’s styles were more conservative back then.
Actually, the correct lyric is “Coca-Cola.” That’s how Davies originally sung the studio version and how he sings on the live version.
However, when the song was released as a single, the group wanted airplay on the BBC, which had a rule that no trademark could be mentioned. Davies went back in the studio and redid the lyrics as “cherry cola” so the BBC would play the song. The U.S. single used the “cherry cola” version.
Mermaid: I always thought he sang "and in a bathroom voice she said Lola."
I admit I don’t know what a “bathroom voice” sounds like, but then again I’m one of the guys who thought Creedence sang “There’s a bathroom on the right”!
Quasi
PS: I also don’t know what a dark brown voice sounds like!
Wow, I’ve been hearing it wrong all these years. I always thought it was “a bedroom voice”. Which made sense–the kind of voice one would use in inviting a guy to one’s bedroom. But a “dark brown” voice? What the hell is that?
I’ve also always heard the final line as “I know what I am, I’m a man, I’m a man, and so is Lola.” Which I interpreted (the repetition of “I’m a man”) as a sort of cry of horror, suggesting that the narrator tossed Lola out of bed before things went any further. The notion that it might be “I’m glad I’m a man, and so is Lola,” is altogether new to me.
But then, I’m a bit of a square. Don’t judge me too harshly for it.
I always interpreted the line, “I almost fell for my Lola” to mean that he almost fell for Lola. That is, by implication, he ** didn’t ** fall for her.
I also thought that the part about, “That’s the way that I want it to stay, and I always want it to be that way for my Lola” to mean he always wanted to picture her/him in his mind like he saw her in the bar, and not like it was when he found out she was a he.
Whew-complicated pronouns
