“It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world – except for Lola.” Which means that Lola is an exception to “Girls will be boys, etc.” – she’s not a part of that.
“Looks like a woman but talks like a man” – Like Bea Arthur? Like Marlene Dietrich? Deep, almost masculine voices. Are they transvestites?
The brilliance of the song is that it can be read both ways.
You could, but it seems a real stretch to me. Why even bring up the “boys will be girls and girls will be boys” stuff if Lola is definitely female? And I’ve always read the “shook up world except for Lola” to mean that his attraction to Lola is the one thing that’s not muddled and mixed up – not that Lola is exempt from the “girls will be boys” stuff.
Unlike the folks posting here, it’s been obvious to me for a long time that the song is implying but shying just away from directly stating that Lola’s a guy. I was amazed that a song with that message got on the radio in the 1960s. But I figure it was able to get there by exploiting that smidgen of doubt.
Aaarghh! :smack:
Look, Lola’s not “mixed up,” to the protagonist, because “her” transvestism and gayness and dominance feels right to him. He’s found his role–“that’s the way that I want it to stay”–after being naive about his own sexuality.
The cleverness of the last line, such as it is, isn’t that it “might” mean Lola is or isn’t a man, but that it carries both direct meanings; Lola is a man, and also glad the protagonist is one. Reading it as only the latter, and a refutation of the former, requires a contortionist denial of everything else in the song.
Look, I’m a huge advocate of the idea that different interpretations can be equally valid, and authorial intent need not determine rightness… but this example is so crashingly direct…
You know Ray Davies dated Candy Darling?
No. It can be read both ways. And the considering the rest of the song, which is written so that it can be read in both ways, just makes this dual interpretation more likely.
Brother explained it’s about whiskey (though this was years ago). The line,“You just sit at home masturbating.” takes on a WHOLE new interpretation!
Interesting, no, didn’t know that.
More Lola lyrics – a bit I’ve always found amusing and more ambiguity fire fuel :
I always want to be on my knees in front of Lola… :dubious:
During a cross-country trip, I heard the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer,” and suddenly realized “Oh, she’s not the ‘Daydream Believer,’ he is!”
The song still needs an extra stanza or two to bring home the point (the exception to test the rule that most written work can be improved by shortening), but at least I finally got the roles sorted out after only 12,347,262 listenings…
The line clearly indicates that she’s not part of the mixed-up world. And he wants to stay with him and Lola, transvestite or not.
What makes the song great lyrically is that everything that “proves” Lola is a transvestite also disproves it. That’s great writing.
No, it requires listening to the lyrics with an open mind. The line “So is Lola” can have either meaning – she’s a man, or she’s glad. Because the first interpretation is the most sensational, it’s what people take from the song, but every bit of evidence in the lyrics that Lola is male is undercut by a further lyric that says otherwise.
No, it’s brilliantly ambiguous. It’s sort of “The Lady or the Tiger” of rock songs. Because of this, you can project whatever meaning you want on the song.
I happen to love ambiguity (in the box or not), so I can see both sides on the song. Other can call Lola a transvestite, and still others can make the case he’s a man. (For instance, “I never ever kissed a woman before” implies he’s kissing a woman now.)
That’s what makes the song great.
(Well, that and the way it fits into the rock opera. For the album to work dramatically, “Lola” needed to be a hit, and it was.)
No, but that’s not relevant. I think one main point was that you can’t be sure. If the singer isn’t sure of his own sexuality, why can you be sure of Lola’s? The only thing he is sure of is that he wants to be with Lola – whether she’s male or female.
Madness covered the song a while back and the tone and inflection in their version pretty clearly says that Lola is actually a transvestite, IMHO.
Mine is “Working for the Weekend” by Loverboy. I thought it was about not being able to go out and have fun because he was working all weekend. I really don’t know why I thought that since that song is played at 5 oclock every Friday evening, along with the Whistle and Take this Job and Shove It. It finally occured to me THIS YEAR that he was saying he was working toward the weekend and was so happy that TGIF he would sing about it.
I can believe that. It doesn’t change how one should view the original song, though, does it?
ell, he doesn’t know her name and she ends it too soon (when the time he paid for is up) are the big clues.
I never assumed it was a prostitute – I just assumed the guy’s first sexual experience was an anonymous one (say at a party). Of course it’s going to seem that it ended “too soon” if it was his first time.
Certainly you could see it as an encounter with a prostitute, but i don’t see that the lyrics mandate it.
What does “Jersey Boys” add to it? The lyrics can easily be ready as a random hook up or meeting. There is absolutely nothing in the lyrics by themselves indicating that a prostitute is involved or the experience is being purchased.
Also what CalMeacham said.
According to Songfacts:
Re Captain Jack by Billy Joel
From the lyric “just a little push and you’ll be smiling”, I always thought he was talking about some needle drug.
As far as Oh What a Night, I never thought it was a hooker either.
He didn’t even know her name (at first). It ended too soon because he wished it could have gone on and on.
I may be way off base, but it struck me after about the millionth listen that “All I Have To Do Is Dream” by the Everly Brothers was about masturbation.
Another one that took me forever to get was “Drive” by R.E.M. A total indictment of the “alternative” rock scene at the time; the song basically said rock and roll had lost its power as a force of rebellion, and it had all become a pose. Made me appreciate the song even more.
I always figured he wasn’t the homecoming queen - unless he’s Lola, of course. 
Speaking of songs about masturbation, it took me awhile to catch on that Jackson Browne’s “Rosie” is his hand:
I’m certain I’ve seen a quote from the guy who wrote Lola that Lola is definitely supposed to be a transvestite, and the song was inspired by an incident where someone (band member or manager?) spent the night in a club dancing with a transvestite but was too drunk to notice.