Some interesting facts about the song "Lola" by The Kinks
Today it will not be difficult to record your own track (and even an entire album) at home - if there is a desire, as they say! but in June 1970 it all seemed fantastic ... It is for this reason Ray Davis, vocalist and main songwriter rock band Kinks, will make a remarkable journey of length 6000 milesto re-record just one line from the now iconic song "Lola"… Imagine only! Six thousand miles, and all for the sake of one line ... By the way: the game was worth the candle. The release, which became a giant hit the following year, ended the band's decline in popularity and brought The Kinks back into the game! Actually - about everything in order.
Hard times for the Kinks
It was a strange time for The Kinks. The group sought to rebuild their fan base in USA after a four-year ban that has just come to an end: in 1965 they were severely reprimanded for their rowdy stage antics, which brought them to a temporary halt in the States… The decline in success meant that the band could not afford to cancel the show in New York and risk upsetting their American fans who have waited so long to see them live...
The two previous British records that were released in 1968 and 1969, were commercially astronomical failures. You could say they made a career The Kinks in a terrible position... None of the albums hit the UK top 40, or even the top 100 on both sides of the Atlantic... Poor play meant that The Kinks would have fallen below nowhere. They needed to make sure their next move was the right one, and more importantly, they no longer had the right to create problems that would prevent them from returning to the States.
Meanwhile, "Lola" a delightful masterpiece that seemed like the perfect way for the band to announce their return to the rock scene! But there was one problem that Davis urgently needed to fix in order for the track to be a success...
The story of one journey
Today, when artists can create a full album in their home studio, this entertaining story offers a startlingly beautiful insight into music making in an age of analogues... In the beginning 1970's, without use logic or ProTools, y Ray Davis there was no other choice but to make the gigantic journey back to London in the midst of the band's tour of USA! While this in itself may not seem like an impressive achievement, it is worth adding that he did it - without missing a single concert, and returned just in time to play an incendiary show in New York the very next evening!
Davis wrote this material to get radio attention, but there was one thing holding him back. The Kinks from their main purpose. The song in its original form contained the brand name Coca Cola, which needed to be changed if the BBC was ever going to play "Lola". When Davies found out about the problem, he flew straight to London to change the text to "Cherry Cola"which we will all eventually find out...
It is worth noting that before "Lola" at The Kinks haven't had a top 20 single for over two years! Fortunately, everything changed after they released this track: "Lola" took second place in the UK, and also topped the charts in South Africa, New Zealand, the Netherlands ... In a word - this composition became a world sensation that returned the Kinks to the right track!
A little about the song
"Lola" - group song The Kinks, written Ray Davis and included in the album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part One. The lyrics are about a rather curious romantic encounter in one of the clubs. Soho, London... In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who "walked like a woman, but spoke like a man."
The song was released as a single in the UK. June 12, 1970, while in the States it was released at the end of the month… The track quickly reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and also entered the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, which was a good signal for the Kinks! Over the years, the song has become the band's trademark. Until 2012, she took her place in the list "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" according to the magazine Rolling Stone, and today it is included in the list of "500 greatest songs in history" according to NME!
Fun fact: Lola's enigmatic character is yet to appear in 1981 year in the lyrics "Destroyer".
