Talk:Lola (song)

message: This article is currently crap. It misses all the interesting stuff about this song (such as for example, that it refers to or was inspired by Ray Davies's dating of Candy Darling, a well-known transvestite, also the subject of Walk On The Wild Side), and spends a lot of time stating the bloody obvious, like the ambiguities in the lyrics, which anyone who has heard the song will be more than well-aware of (assuming they're older than about 10). This needs a total overhaul. This is exactly the sort of article that Wikipedia is being mocked for - totally missing the wood for the trees. Has anyone here ever read an encyclopedia. other than this one? Graham 13:21, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Make yourself a user name so that you can enter into a discussion properly. At present your IP address is listed as a known vandal. Once you've decided to become part of the WP community, you may find your criticisms of others are taken more seriously. On the other hand you may find that this sort of carping about orher users isn't terribly constructive. Graham 21:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with this anon IP, and I'm far from a vandal (two years here, over 22,000 edits from this name and the previous name). I'd fix the article but I don't know enough about the inner workings of what went on with the "real Lola." By all means, fix the article; you're obviously watching it if you responded that quickly. Mike H. That's hot 22:06, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not saying he is a vandal, just the IP address has been used for vandalism in the past, so there isn't much point leaving messages on the talk page there. I'm loathe to enter into a wholesale edit of this article because obviously someone has put in a lot of work (just misdirected, IMO). If someone wants to take on board my comments, fair enough, but if not, no big deal to me. Far too many WP articles need similar work, and band/song articles are some of the worst, being often written by fans, who are rarely objective. Defending major edits against such people is far too stressful to be worthwhile in my experience. Also, whinging about another user's grammar, on a talk page where it really doesn't matter, is unlikely to win friends. I have autowatching on so (sometimes unfortunately) my watchlist throws up everything I've ever touched. Graham 02:18, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Early 2006 comments 

message: I once read an interview with Pete Quaife, the Kinks' original bass player, where he thought that maybe Lola was inspired by an inccident in the late 1960's involving drummer Mick Avory.
I can't remember where I read it, but it might be worth noting as another possible influence for the song's subject matter. Also, Lola was note the first song of such subject matter to hit the charts, just listen to the Who's 1966 #2 hit "I'm A Boy", they're both about the same thing (sort of).
:Yes, Avory claims to have inspired the single. Added section about his story. Beatleswhobeachboys (talk) 01:09, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Lola" Inspired by Mick Avory? 

message: Why on earth are there three references to Futurama? It is listed as a reference, listed under trivia and someone has stuck in a large box linked to the particular episode. Furthermore, the song itself is not even parodied in the said episode, the object of that joke being William Shatner's musical efforts e.g. his version of Lucy in the Sky, as Zapp is a parody of Kirk from Star Trek. I shall remove both the reference and the box and add a link to the related episode under trivia, after re-wording it. --JamesTheNumberless 09:28, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There are three references to Futurama because the demographics of the typical Wikipedia editor and those of the typical Futurama-watching twentysomething middle class white North American ex-college student coincide. There are scads of references to Family Guy and South Park all over Wikipedia for exactly the same reason, often in ridiculously inappropriate contexts, almost never with any indication of why the references are notable. I am genuinely surprised that the article for Benito Mussolini does not end with "He was mentioned in an episode of season two of The Family Guy. He was mentioned in Battlestar: Galactica. One of the cylons in Battlestar: Galactica looks like Benito Mussolini. In episode two of season three of Futurama, Bender mentions him", etc. I suspect that Mussolini's article was like that a few years ago, but it seems that the tide is turning in my direction, at least in the case of major historical figures. Time will prove me right. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 20:00, 16 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Ashley Pomeroy I love you and wish to have your child. I plan to issue Wikipedia the dental bills I have incurred due to grinding my teeth after reading articles flawed in the frightful manner you describe. There are many other Wiki outrages against good sense, taste, and balance, just to name a few blemishes. This will do for now. I pinch your claws. 2001:44B8:3102:BB00:5DA8:522D:7EB9:503C (talk) 01:23, 2 February 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Futurama 

message: I have removed the section about the "ambiguitiy" of the lyrics; Davies himself has said that the song is based on Candy Darling, and in a discussion above the author actually states that the section was original research. Wikipedia guidelines specifically disallow any original interpretations of songs or literature. No matter how evident someone thinks the implications are, unless there are reliable sources for these claims, the section shouldn't be here. Kafziel Talk 21:29, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: No he hasn't. See article quote. Beatleswhobeachboys (talk) 01:10, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ambiguity 

message: mcfly did a cover of the song feturing busted on their first single, five colours in her hair- coiuld someone add that?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Veggieburgerfish (talk • contribs) 20:04, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: mcfly

message: :Image:Kinkslolasong.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
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BetacommandBot (talk) 19:12, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Kinkslolasong.jpg

message: Many, many Wikipedia pages including those about specific songs have a list of external links at or near the end.  The same should be true about this page.  At the very least there should be external links to the song's lyrics and guitar tablature.
74.223.82.114 (talk) 00:21, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: External links needed

message: "Lola" was covered by Widespread Panic on October 31, 2010, at their concert at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA. That can be verified on their setlist, found here:
http://www.everydaycompanion.com/setlists/20101031a.asp
I was at the show, and the lead singer John Bell was dressed as a transvestite, a relevant factoid I would like to use in the post.
floresen  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Floresen (talk • contribs) 02:47, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Addition to Cover Versions Section

message: I read the now-ancient discussions above about the song's ambiguity (most of which are under the unhelpfully titled section "Added much stuff today"), but the last post was so long ago that I am opening the topic anew.
I think previous discussions got caught too deeply in technicalities related to the song's composition (i.e., was the song inspired by an experience Davies or someone close to him had with a transvestite, etc) and lost sight of the song itself, which is the actual subject of this article. A huge part of this song's nearly irresistible charm is the teasingly playful way it dances around the possibility that Lola is actually a man without ever declaring unequivocally whether she is or not.
How much less delightful and how very much more mundane this song would be if it tied up the loose ends it has tantalizingly dangled before the audience from almost the very beginning! Whatever second thoughts Davies may have had later, there can be no doubt that in the original recordings of the song the playful, teasing ambiguity is deliberate and left tantalizingly unresolved at the end by the brilliantly ambiguous "... I'm glad I'm a man, and so is Lola." Even in Davies's quoted account of the song's origin, he opens the possibility gently and ambiguously with, "Have you seen the stubble?" instead of something heavyhanded like, "Hey, that chick's a dude!"
I am not a renowned music critic whose opinion means anything to anybody but me, but I think we do this marvelous song a grave disservice by saying so flatly "... which details a romantic encounter between a young man and a transvestite ...", when the song itself is anything but flat and ploddingly straightforward.
I will not get involved in even the slightest disagreement over this issue, so if any editor is determined to restore the description to its former state I will not revert it. But I hope anyone who feels compelled to remove the "possible" I am adding before "transvestite" will first take time to set aside the details of its composition for a few minutes and listen to the song itself in its original recordings; listen to the wonderfully playful spirit of this fantastic song and see how expansive, how gently open to all sorts of possibilities it actually is.
Within the song, whether Lola is a woman or a man is not anywhere near as important as the possibility that she may be either, and either possibility is just fine with the singer. Unlike most stories like this, which end in violence, the singer here thinks Lola is just great whichever he/she turns out to be.
Although the song almost surely would never have been written if Lola had been a woman, and therefore she almost surely is a man, the fact that the song doesn't ever hit us over the head with that fact – even at the end, when it almost seems to but really doesn't – is an important part of its gentle, playful, joyful charm.--Jim10701 (talk) 18:26, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Playful ambiguity 

message: The Category:LGBT-related songs has been added and deleted from this article by various editors, so I thought I'd bring it here for discussion.  I don't see why this would be an appropriate category.  No reliable source has indicated it is LGBT-related.  Although the song was inspired after a person's night out with a transvestite, IMO that does not make this song LGBT-related.  I'm interested in other views so the use of this category can be settled. Thanks, Bahooka (talk) 14:48, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Professor Keith Gildart of Wolverhampton writes that "in 'Lola', Davies explored the theme of sexual ambiguity and transgression." (See Images of England Through Popular Music, page 144, .) Professor Roy Shuker of Wellington writes that, while many mainstream pop songs are about heterosexual love, "others deal with other sexual orientations and sexual practices, for example the Kinks, 'Lola', 1970..." (See Understanding Popular Music, pp. 234–235, .) These two books are by highly regarded publishers: Macmillan and Psychology Press. I would go with their assessment. Binksternet (talk) 17:30, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Those references would make a good addition to the article and looks like they would support the inclusion of that category. Bahooka (talk) 21:50, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Category:LGBT-related songs 

message: The album covers show "Berkeley Man" and "Berkeley News". The text states "Berkeley Mews".
Playful ambiguity? Maybe not... probably just a mistake.
It would be great if someone could clear this up. I can't because the only research channel I'm familiar with is inconclusive (hint you're reading it now).  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.38.6.130 (talk) 22:37, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: "Berkeley Mews", as bizarre a title as it is, is actually correct. It was an unused track recorded during the sessions of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation    Society, and was featured in a few compilation albums. It is not uncommon for some foreign countries to change the title of songs (ex. on a few European covers of the "Wonderboy" single, the b-side, "Polly", is occasionally mislabeled as "Pretty Polly"). Beatleswhobeachboys (talk) 12:49, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  B-side - Berkeley Something 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Lola (song). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Lola (song). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I remember reading here that there was a remix of this song told from Lola's perspective and I assume it was removed from the article.
Does anyone remember this and if so, can I still have the name of the song?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.93.155.105 (talk) 20:39, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another Song