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Lola Darling Biography & Facts

"Lola" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies for their 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. The song details a romantic encounter between a young man and a possible cross-dresser or trans woman, whom he meets in a club in Soho, London. In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who "walked like a woman but talked like a man", yet he remains infatuated with her. The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 12 June 1970, while in the United States it was released on 28 June 1970. Commercially, "Lola" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The track has since become one of the Kinks' most popular songs and was ranked number 386 on Rolling Stone's 2021 edition of its "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. "Lola" was also ranked number 473 on NME's own "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" list.Since its release, "Lola" has appeared on multiple compilation and live albums. In 1980, a live version of the song from the album One for the Road was released as a single in the US and some European countries, becoming a minor hit. In the Netherlands it reached number 1, just as in 1970 with the studio version. Other versions include an instrumental on the band's 1971 movie soundtrack album Percy and live renditions from 1972's Everybody's in Show-Biz and 1996's To the Bone. The Lola character also appears in the lyrics of the band's 1981 song "Destroyer". Origin and inspiration Ray Davies has claimed that he was inspired to write "Lola" after Kinks manager Robert Wace spent a night in Paris dancing with a cross-dresser. Davies said of the incident, "In his apartment, Robert had been dancing with this black woman, and he said, 'I'm really onto a thing here.' And it was okay 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 [intoxicated] to care, I think". Drummer Mick Avory has offered an alternative explanation for the song's lyrics, claiming that "Lola" was partially inspired by Avory's frequenting of certain bars in West London. Avory said: We used to know this character called Michael McGrath. He used to hound the group a bit, because being called The Kinks did attract these sorts of people. He used to come down to Top of the Pops, and he was publicist for John Stephen's shop in Carnaby Street. He used to have this place in Earl's Court, and he used to invite me to all these drag queen acts and transsexual pubs. They were like secret clubs. And that's where Ray [Davies] got the idea for 'Lola'. When he was invited too, he wrote it while I was getting drunk. Ray Davies claimed to have done "a bit of research with drag queens" for the song's lyrics. He has denied claims that the song was written about a date between himself and Candy Darling – Davies contends the two only went out to dinner together and that he had known the whole time that Darling was transgender.In his autobiography, Dave Davies said that he came up with the music for what would become "Lola", noting that brother Ray added the lyrics after hearing it. In a 1990 interview, Dave Davies stated that "Lola" was written in a similar fashion to "You Really Got Me" in that the two worked on Ray's basic skeleton of the song, saying that the song was more of a collaborative effort than many believed. Writing and recording Written in April 1970, "Lola" was cited by Ray Davies as the first song he wrote following a break he took to act in the 1970 Play for Today film The Long Distance Piano Player. Davies said that he had initially struggled with writing an opening that would sell the song, but the rest of the song "came naturally". He noted that he knew the song would be successful when he heard his one-year-old daughter singing the chorus, stating, "She was crawling around singing 'la la, la la Lola.' I thought, 'If she can join in and sing, Kinks fans can do it.'"Initial recordings of the song began in April 1970, but, as the band's bassist John Dalton remembered, recording for "Lola" took particularly long, stretching into the next month. During April, four to five versions were attempted, utilizing different keys as well as varying beginnings and styles. In May, new piano parts were added to the backing track by John Gosling, the band's new piano player who had just been auditioned. Vocals were also added at this time. The song was then mixed during that month. Mick Avory remembered the recording sessions for the song positively, saying that it "was fun, as it was the Baptist's [John Gosling's] first recording with us".The guitar opening on the song was produced as a result of combining the sound of a Martin guitar and a vintage Dobro resonator guitar. Ray Davies cited this blend of guitar sounds for the song's unique guitar sound. Release Despite the chart success "Lola" would achieve, its fellow Lola vs. Powerman track "Powerman" was initially considered to be the first single from the album. However, "Lola", which Ray Davies later claimed was an attempt to write a hit, was eventually decided on as the debut single release."Lola" was released as a single in 1970. In the UK, the B-side to the single was The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society outtake "Berkeley Mews" while the Dave Davies-penned "Mindless Child of Motherhood" was used in the US. It became an unexpected chart smash for the Kinks, reaching number two in Britain and number nine in the United States. The single also saw success worldwide, reaching the top of the charts in Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as the top 5 in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and it reached number six in Australia. 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. In a 1970 interview, Dave Davies stated that, if "Lola" had been a failure, the band would have "gone on making records for another year or so and then drifted apart".Although the track was a major hit for the band, Dave Davies did not enjoy the success of "Lola", saying, "In fact, when 'Lola' was a hit, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Because it was taking us out of a different sort of comfort zone, where we'd been getting into the work, and the writing and the musicality was more thought about. It did have that smell of: 'Oh blimey, not that again.' I found it a bit odd, that period. And then it got odder and weirder". Conversely, Mick Avory said that he "enjoyed the success" the band had with "Lola" and its follow-up, "Apeman". Controversy Originally, "Lola" saw controversy for its lyrics. In a Record Mirror article entitled "Sex Change Record: Kink Speaks", Ray Davies addressed the matter, saying, "It really doesn't matter what sex Lola is, I think she's all righ.... Discover the Lola Darling popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Lola Darling books.

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