The Faces (Japan): Lola
[purchase]
The obvious lie in this post is that the version I posted wasn't the Kinks at all, but a girl J-Pop group, The Faces. It's a fairly bad cover, beginning from the idea of a girl group singing the story in the first place, don't you agree?
Here's the Kinks version:
The Kinks: Lola
According to the Roman Catholic church, there are lies of commission (things you say) and lies of omission (things you don't). This song is about one of the more intriguing of the latter sins.
Those introductory power pop chords — C-D-E— are nearly universally recognized by now. Ray Davies of the Kinks states that a true event inspired the story. He claims (but can we believe him?) that their manager spent one debauched evening happily dancing with a black transvestite in Soho, London. The rest, as they say, is history. This 1970 tune of the unwitting yet oddly contented punter gave us the immortal words, "I'm glad I'm a man, and so is Lola!" and gave the Kinks one of their biggest hits. It's become an anthem in sports arenas right up with the songs of Queen and Gary Glitter. Which may be saying something we'd do well not to investigate too carefully…
I made up the part about this song being a sport anthem. I've never once heard Lola at a game, have you?
