Post a controversial music opinion

i love the kinks but lola is embarrassing imo

I think the “worst” line is, ”Well I'm not the world's most masculine man.” Why couldn’t the narrator be a masculine man?

I think the story is even “better” if he’s a masculine man, no?

this song was written in 1970

early 70s Ray Davies was like a proto-Nic Cage in the way he'd just randomly adopt non-existent accents

He's masculine enough to know he's a man. He's just not the world's most masculine man. xps

"Lola" seems fairly progressive to me tbh.

This is surely worse than any of the lyrical content in "Apeman"?:

"Everybody talking about racial equality
Yeah, everybody talking about equal rights
But white's white, black's black, that's that
And that's the way you should leave it"

I don't really know what's going on with Davies's accent a lot of the time. Even the pronunciation of "the only time I feel alive is by your side" in "All Day..." sounds like an imitation of an accent I can't really place. The rock history prof I TAd for in grad school told me it was just a British accent, though.

I think the story is even “better” if he’s a masculine man, no?

"I am the world's most masculine man" would have been a funnier line, for sure.

A valid point

I see that line — plus “I've never ever kissed a woman before” — as Davies’ way of assuring the listener that this isn’t a straight dude being seduced by Lola.

I always just read it as meaning that he was young and inexperienced. Assuming you're right, though, a sympathetic song about a gay man having a happy experience with a drag queen still seems fairly progressive to me.

Yeah, I agree; I don’t think it’s an uncool song

I think the Kinks were fairly progressive for the time considering it all, and Dave Davies wrote about being bisexual in the 60s in his autobio including a relationship with Long John Baldry

dave davies is touring!
i love the kinks i just think lola is not their best song by a huge wide gigantic margin

I'm surprised that "Shangri-La" never managed to become a huge hit. Maybe it was a couple years too early?

i love the kinks i just think lola is not their best song by a huge wide gigantic margin

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, November 20, 2018 10:21 AM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah agreed it's not close to one of their best!
i like it overall though
part of it was it was a song i liked hearing on classic rock radio as a kid

which in that context it felt kind of daring to me

I always just read it as meaning that he was young and inexperienced.

"Well I left home just a week before
And I've never ever kissed a woman before"

... the preceding line suggests exactly that.

I think the story is even “better” if he’s a masculine man, no?

― my guitar friend wants his money (morrisp), Tuesday, November 20, 2018 9:47 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am the world's most masculine man
High-T alpha with a red pill in my hand

xp Yeah, but there’s a difference btw. inexperienced and “no experience,” which is the choice made in the song. Even before “leaving home,” many blokes have snogged a crush or two (do I sound like I’m British?)

"Lola" is a great song whose sentiment has aged remarkably well imo

of the Brit pop songwriters of the era I don't think any of them were more sympathetic/empathetic to non-hetero-male POVs than Davies

Townsend, Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards all p much simplistic cavemen by comparison when it came to sexuality & gender roles

xp Yeah, but there’s a difference btw. inexperienced and “no experience,” which is the choice made in the song. Even before “leaving home,” many blokes have snogged a crush or two (do I sound like I’m British?)

I think you're over-thinking this tbh.

davies definitely doesn't know what accent he's doing a lot of the time, he has a lot of fun with it

Y-O-D-A YOOOOODA

xp oh, I’m nitpicking for sure... it’s just the one aspect of the song that jumped out at me a little, from the “modern” pov (in response to the original question).

"life on the road" --underappreciated kinks song written from a POV of inexperience described in colorful detail (with a few lyrics that are nagl by today's standards) fun song, lots of good lyrics in spite of the bad ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsybNX5I2tQ

dedicated follower of fashion tho

any of those ruffle-shirted kinks songs are better representatives of the inexperienced narrator than "lola", which i realize now has always had a distinctively broey vibe to me

ok maybe not ANY but many

Townsend, Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards all p much simplistic cavemen by comparison when it came to sexuality & gender roles

"Two Sisters" is a pretty gender-demeaning song.

it's not as empowering as Lennon's "Run For Your Life"

lol

The two characters in the lyrics of "Two Sisters" (Sybilla and Priscilla) were inspired by Ray Davies and his brother, Dave Davies. Ray was more introverted (and was the only one of the two married) while Dave was a party animal who was very outgoing. This clash of personalities was often the cause of many band in-fights, which would come out in their songs (ex. "Dandy", which is often thought to be about Dave).

Ran ‘round the house with her curlers on

I can well imagine Dave doing that tbf.

If we're talking pre-Muswell Hillbillies, then I would have went for 'Who'll Be the Next in Line?' or 'Come On Now' long before 'Two Sisters' ...

'Run for Your Life' is the obvious Lennon/McCartney example, but there's also 'Another Girl', 'You Can't Do That' etc.

The female harmonies of The Pursuit of Happiness are as good, if not better than, Fleetwood Mac's harmonies.

Since Moe does their lead vocals, referring more to the match of Kris & Leslie together, vs Stevie and Christine as lead vocals.

Wait, we're comparing TPOH's backing vocals to Fleetwood Mac's lead vocals?? And finding the latter wanting?

Always a pleasure to pull out "Beautiful White" anyway.

More comparing Lindsey on lead, with Stevie and Christine harmonizing. I've just been stuck on how pure Kris and Leslie sound, and how they elevate the band.

"Two Sisters" is a pretty gender-demeaning song.

― timellison

worth keeping in mind that the davies brothers had six older sisters, at least one of whom led a fairly wild life and died when they ray and dave were still young

"lola" sounds better when the raincoats do it

Ramsey Lewis's 1970s albums are AT LEAST as good as Herbie Hancock's work from the same era, and in the latter half of the decade, they're better.

As good as the Mwandishi albums?

What's Ramsey Lewis' equivalent of Sextant, I want to hear that

Lewis never did anything as weird as Mwandishi, but his albums from Golden Hits (seriously funked-out re-recordings of his 1960s hits) through Solar Wind, Sun Goddess, and Don't It Feel Good are as good as anything by the Headhunters (slightly more mainstream-oriented, of course), and Salongo, Tequila Mockingbird, Love Notes and Legacy are easily the equal of, or better than, Man-Child, Secrets, Sunlight, Directstep or Feets Don't Fail Me Now.