"Lola: Male or female"

Raymond Douglas Davies, the genius behind “Lola,” is regarded as one of the most successful and influential songwriters to emerge from the British music scene of the 1960’s. “Lola,” which is included in the album titled “Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round,” did not seem to flow with the main theme of the album, which centered on the greed and exploitation of the music industry. Ray Davies may have wrote “Lola” for entertainment purposes only, but it seemed the culture at the time (the late sixties) offered a variety of different lifestyles to which elaboration was due, more specifically gay and transvestite lifestyles, which, in essence

In a review by John Mendelsohn, of Rolling Stone, he emphasizes that Ray Davies never actually stated that Lola was a transvestite. I disagree because there were so many clues that Lola was not a woman. It can be inferred from the song that Lola was indeed a transvestite.

The beginning of the fourth verse, ‘Well that’s the way that I want it to stay/ And I always want it to be that way for my Lola,’ explains how the singer only wants to be friends with Lola and to be happy, but nothing past friendship. He wants Lola to be happy and accepted in society as well. The next line, ‘La-la-la-la Lola,’ no longer associates Lola as being “his.” The romantic tie has been severed. ‘Girls will be boys and boys will be girls/ It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola’ expresses how so many people have not found their true sexual identity yet. Some people constantly battle with their identity, but Lola knew that “she” did not want to be who “she” was, and now has found happiness in what “she” has become; a man. Davies closed the verse with ‘La-la-la-la Lola’ once again, just stressing the importance of Lola.

The next verse begins with, ‘Well I left home just a week before/ And I’d never kissed a woman before.’ These lines reveal that the singer is probably relatively young; having just left home. Also, the singer never kissed a woman before, which offers more evidence that he is relatively young. The following lines, ‘But Lola smiled and took me by the hand/ And said dear boy I’m gonna make you a man’ can make one infer that the singer may have told Lola that he has never kissed a woman before, so Lola wants make him a man by kissing him. There is no proof that the singer kissed Lola, or did not, but the preceding verses confirm that the singer is not interested in Lola.

The singer seems to be falling for Lola in the next lines, ‘Well we drank champagne and danced all night / Under electric candlelight.’ They danced the night away under the lights of the bar, and the singer was slowly falling for Lola. The following lines, ‘She picked me up and sat me on her knee/ And said dear boy won’t you come home with me,’ brings the listener back to the realization that Lola is most likely not a woman because she put the singer on her knee, which is definitely not something a typical woman would do. The next lines challenge the singer’s sexuality: ‘Well I’m not the world’s most passionate guy/ But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lola.’ The singer has had a growing suspicion that Lola is not a “regular” woman, but he says he almost fell for her, which shows that he may have questioned his sexuality for a brief moment. He realized then that Lola is not a woman. After these two lines, the singer once again sings the nam

Some topics in this essay:
Lola/ Lola, Lola Women, United Kingdom, Ray Davies, Lola Davies, Soho London, Kingdom United, Douglas Davies, Powerman Money-Go-Round”, Male Female, lola la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la lola’, lola la-la-la-la lola’, ‘well i’m, lola lines, lola woman, ‘well i’m world’s, lola’ singer, kissed woman, verse ‘well, la-la-la-la lola, realization lola, lola la-la-la-la lola, la-la-la-la lola la-la-la-la, falling lola lines,