The subversive genius of “Lola”

Lo-lo-lo-lo-loooooooo-lah

It seems hard to write a funny song. I say this in part because I know that it’s difficult to write anything funny. (Shoutout to me for being brave.)

But I also think music is a tricky business for the humorous. You can accidentally ruin a perfectly good melody with flat jokes — and vice versa. Plus, when a song is both funny and listenable, it often gets written off as a novelty. Aside from Weird Al Yankovic and various rappers who hate Drake, most of the time mainstream music acts are better off avoiding humor completely.

That’s one reason why “Lola” leaves me a bit astonished every time I hear it.

(But not the main reason.)

Many of our present-day comedy luminaries insist that mocking transgender people is a deeply consecrated comedic right, absent which they would completely lose the ability to make people laugh. Meanwhile, here’s Ray Davies and the Kinks on TV over fifty years ago, singing about a cross-dresser¹ without a lick of judgment — and with several of the funniest lyrics in rock and roll history!

“Lola” is based on a pastiche of real experiences from Davies’ years in rock and roll, as well as a lifelong appreciation for gender-bending that he attributes to British music hall culture. As a result, it’s clear that his lyrical protagonist does not see Lola as confusing or scary, but instead as the one thing that makes sense to him. Here’s the key section:

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

That’s a pretty profound sentiment for a song that was competing for airplay with the Jackson 5 literally singing “ABC.” The words in this verse may be amusingly complex, but the meaning is refreshingly straightforward. As the songwriter himself says now, “I admire anyone who can get up and be what they want to be.”

The Kinks packaged this quietly revolutionary message with a jangly guitar riff, a sing-along chorus, and an expertly crafted final punchline (“I know what I am, and I'm glad I'm a man… and so is Lola”). The song became a huge and unlikely hit that resuscitated their career. But it also went far beyond the influence of normal pop music.

One transgender activist calls it literally “life-saving.” Another person writes that “to have a very positive song about a relationship with a trans woman or crossdresser is downright revolutionary!”

Pretty sure no one said that about Ricky Gervais’s most recent special. Zing!

Somewhat surprisingly, the song’s queer-positive lyrics didn’t cause much of a fuss during its original heyday. In fact, Ray Davies got in more trouble for including the words “Coca-Cola” than he did for writing about Lola herself.

Davies believes this is partly because “people only hear a third of the lyrics when they’re playing a song before they make up their mind they like it. They’ll just listen to the catchy parts.” He may be right, but I have an additional theory. Maybe the truth is that… drumroll…

Most folks don’t hate trans people! And comedy involving or related to them doesn’t have to be mean!

Shocking possibility, I know. But it kind of seems like back when trans folks weren’t being strategically demonized for political advantage, the majority of people were totally willing to love a catchy song about a cross-dresser.

So instead of paying any attention the next time some tired, wannabe-Carlin releases a “controversial” Netflix special, remember that you can just listen to “Lola” instead.

What’s your favorite funny pop song? Let me know in the comments!

1. Davies’s lyrics don’t say whether the character of Lola is a trans woman or a cross-dresser. It was a long time ago, so let’s cut him a bit of slack on failing to provide specific verbiage.