Lola by the Kinks came up on a Spotify playlist, and I thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic. I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are.
Here's the Wikipedia article for "Lola" and here are the lyrics. You know them: "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls/It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world/Except for Lola," etc. etc. Video here.
Dave Davies deigned to respond: the X response from Dave Davies: "I am highly insulted that MOBY would accuse my brother of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way."
Unevolved!
I thought The Kinks wanted to be unevolved!
That's "Apeman," my favorite track on the 1970 album, "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One." That's also, obviously, where you'll find the more familiar track, "Lola."
What's so great about evolution?
I think I'm sophisticated'Cause I'm living my lifeLike a good homo sapiensBut all around meEverybody's multiplyingAnd they're walking round like flies, manSo I'm no better than the animalsSitting in the cages in the zoo, man'Cause compared to the flowersAnd the birds and the treesI am an apemanI think I'm so educatedAnd I'm so civilized'Cause I'm a strict vegetarianAnd with the over populationAnd inflation and starvationAnd the crazy politiciansI don't feel safe in this world no moreI don't want to die in a nuclear warI want to sail away to a distant shoreAnd make like an apemanI'm an apemanI'm an ape, apemanOh, I'm an apemanI'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm an apeman'Cause compared to the sun that sits in the skyCompared to the clouds as they roll byCompared to the bugs and the spiders and fliesI am an apemanLaa la la la la la laIn man's evolutionHe's created the cityAnd the motor traffic rumbleBut give me half a chanceAnd I'd be taking off my clothesAnd living in the jungle'Cause the only time that I feel at easeIs swinging up and down in a coconut treeOh what a life of luxuryTo be like an apemanI'm an apemanI'm an ape, apemanOh, I'm an apemanI'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm an apemanI look out the windowBut I can't see the skyThe air pollution is a-fogging up my eyesI want to get out of this city aliveAnd make like an apemanLa la la la la la laCome on and love meBe my apeman girlAnd we'd be so happyIn my apeman worldI'm an apemanI'm an ape, apemanOh, I'm an apemanI'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm an apemanI'll be your Tarzan and you'll be my JaneI'll keep you warm and you'll keep me saneWe'll sit in the trees and eat bananas all dayJust like an apemanI'm an apemanI'm an ape, apemanOh, I'm an apemanI'm a king-kong manI'm a voodoo manOh, I'm an apemanI don't feel safe in this world no moreI don't want to die in a nuclear warI want to sail away to a distant shoreAnd make like an apemanLa la la la la la la
Posts
70 comments:
"I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
'Cause the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me"
Moby would be shocked by the "unevolved" first line of Ten Years After's "I'd Love to Change the World..."
"Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity?"
But then Moby could feel the warmth of collectivism in the second line...
"Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more"
Unevolved means woke, but he can't say woke because things have evolved.
Don't tell Moby about Seals and Crofts or Merle Haggard.
From Moby's professed standpoint, I would assume he'd view 'Lola' as pathbreaking.
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well, I left home just a week before
And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said "Dear boy, I'm gonna make you a man"
Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Acknowledging science is unevolved got it
I wonder how Moby feels about "Walk on the Wild Side."
Imagine what a troglodyte you'd need to be not to anticipate 2020s transgender ideology 50 years ago.
"You've got your mother in a whirl
She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl"
The "evolved" David Bowie
"From Moby's professed standpoint, I would assume he'd view 'Lola' as pathbreaking."
You're underestimating how evolved he is.
I think the problem he's seeing is in "I'm a man and so is Lola." If Lola is transgender, the Lola is NOT a man and the singer is misgendering Lola.
But the song never establishes that Lola is transgender as opposed to a man in drag.
Who the f is Moby?
The song could be pathbreaking but still insufficiently evolved. It's just that everyone else was even more unevolved. So the pathbreakers are also unevolved. So the most cowardly followers today get credit for evolution and the pathbreakers of yesterday are sneered at.
One of their best albums… not fit for hipster/metrosexual consumption.
What's so great about evolution?
need to ask Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo about that
How DARE old songs not conform to Today's demands!
This is Completely Unacceptable..
But Baby, it's Cold Outside!
I'm still waiting for the fire and brimstone to come raining down upon us...
Unevolved means you have not adhered to the progressive schedule of change. Thankfully the internet can give you up-to-the-minute updates on where you should be, so that the change police will leave you alone. What's cool is that it's impossible to be too evolved. That's actually heroic.
Remember when Moby was a term for a type of blog commenter?
I was just reading my old posts with the "Moby" tag.
Jocko Homo, by DEVO
now THIS is evolved...
"Monkey men all
In business suit
Teachers and critics
All dance the poot
Are we not men?
We are Devo
Jocko homo
Jocko homo
Jocko homo
We go now, God made man
But he used the monkey to do it
Apes in the plan
We're all here to prove it
I can walk like an ape, Talk like an ape
I can do what a monkey can do
God made man
But a monkey supplied the glue
Are we not men?
We are Devo
"Lola is transgender as opposed to a man in drag"
The difference is that you can laugh at the man in drag. It's the world oldest joke, and man is it worn out. Back in the day, even before boomers, Zog came out of the cave wearing his sister's bearskin and shell neckless, and the whole tribe busted up. Then he would do it everyday, and they all stopped laughing, which really pissed Zog off, so he refused to go on the hunt with rest of the men, which pissed off everyone, and eventually Zog left for Fire Island.
Those who can sing,
Those who cant sample other peoples work
And play PC Policeman.
It Moby wasn't a Leftwing publicity hound
You wouldn't know who he is.
I'll give Moby credit, he realized early how gullible and stupid RW'ers are. Hence the label "Moby".
The rest of Dave Davies response:
to @thelittleidiot Moby’s criticism of our song LOLA these are the words sent to me and Ray from our dear friend trans icon @jaynecounty27...
Two men sniping at each other like women while debating a song written by a guy about a guy acting like a woman.
Pearl Jam said it best:
Woo
I'm ahead, I'm a man
I'm the first mammal to wear pants, yeah
I'm at peace with my lust
I can kill 'cause in god I trust, yeah
It's evolution, baby, yeah
I'm at peace, I'm the man
Buying stocks on the day of the crash, yeah
On the loose, I'm a truck
All the rolling hills, I'll flatten 'em out, yeah
It's herd behavior, uh huh
It's evolution, baby, good
Admire me, admire my home
Admire my son, he's my clone
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
This land is mine, this land is free
I'll do what I want but irresponsibly
It's evolution, baby, uh
I'm a thief, I'm a liar
There's my church, I sing in the choir
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Admire me, admire my home
Admire my son, admire my clones
'Cause we know, appetite for a nightly feast
Those ignorant Indians got nothin' on me
Nothin', why?
Because it's evolution, baby
I am ahead, I am advanced
I am the first mammal to make plans, yeah
I crawled the earth, but now I'm higher
2010, watch it go to fire
It's evolution, baby, ugh
It's evolution, baby
Ah, do the evolution
Come on, come on, come on
Lola and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" were the landmark transgender songs of their generation. Lou Reed suffered from severe mental illness and he knew it. Those songs made John Waters and all that followed possible.
Moby is a latecomer and most famous for "strip mining" the (black) music back catalog for samples. He's a product of what was fed to him.
"Walk on the Wild Side":
Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitchhiked her way across the USA.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was she - she said:
Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side,
Said hey honey, take a walk on the wild side.
I remember when Obama “evolved”.
https://youtu.be/kQGMTPab9GQ?si=0y18XTZJJdlVcdgn
I believe AA's point above is that "Lola" and "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" are not about transgender persons; rather, they are are cross-dressing men.
Not the same species.
Gee where have all the good times gone? Maybe they're down on Hollywood Boulevard.
Moby's comment says more about himself than about the Kinks. Fifty years ago, it actually was "evolved" to sing about transvestism/transgenderism and sing without contempt, disgust, or ridicule.
freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies
Can we reach Ten Years After for a comment on "furries"?
Yeah, gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver know he's doin' alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Brown sugar
How come you taste so good?
Brown sugar
Just like a young girl should, ah yeah
Dave Davies is a pioneer of rock guitar and should be praised for seeding the culture with enough stuff for all of us to enjoy and for Van Halen to improve upon later. It's a wonderful world. Great music for lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime.
@Wilbur, that's a distinction without a meaningful difference.
Same species? The modern HUMAN species? Huh?????
Occasional cross dressing sometimes leads to full-time cross-gender ID, and then to transgenderism when there are doctors willing and able to perform the surgery. You've got to have modern medicine (post industrial age) and motivation before execution.
Moby hasn't even evolved enough to eat the delicious critters that God put here for us.
I'm curious. Do those here who support transgenderism also support those who want to be considered other animals as well? By support, I mean accept their altered identity and treat them accordingly?
Evolution is a branching tree, not a flag pole.
Moby is too dumb to know that people from the past shouldn't be judged by modern rules. If we keep moving toward sanity, future people may be harsh judges of people like Moby.
Future People: So men competed against women? Surely only in chess, pool, maybe bowling.
Moby: Nope, even in full contact sports. A woman in MMA had her orbital socket shattered by a man, and we cheered when a woman in Olympic boxing surrendered after taking one punch in the face by a man. Good times.
Future People: Dude. WTF?
I do enjoy Moby's Long Ambients work, but it's crazy that he's trying to have a pissing contest with Ray Davies about trans wokeness. This is the man who invented the Knob Touch game, and stalked Natalie Portman, so he has zero moral high ground here.
Moby's a schmuck. His contributions to music (few of which interest me personally) do not change that.
Moby Dick.
Moby Grape.
Mobilization orders.
Oh no.
Ann Althouse said...Remember when Moby was a term for a type of blog commenter?
It still is. We just don't see it so much because we're not in the heat of election season.
The Kinks were great. Moby is a complete douche. Nobody cares what Moby has to say about anything.
That's my intellectual take on this. But then, I am an Apeman.
We need a de-mob suit to free of us the insufferable Moby. I love the album, and was thinking of what I would pick as my favorite song,. It's a sign of how strong the music is that Lola isn't the obvious first choice. One of the contenders for my favorite is Strangers, which is one of the few Dave Davies written tunes. He is in contention for world's most underrated guitar players. Unless you are talking to guitar players, his name rarely comes up.
@Bob Boyd: Evolution is one thing. Finding another human to cut off your johnson and turn it into a lovely flower is not evolution.
A member of a species that depends on sexual reproduction cannot reproduce or evolve on its own. Pure gay or transgendered = dead end; single-generation variants.
Anyway Dave Davies lead guitar IS the song.
@Enigma
You completely misinterpreted my comment.
My fault for not being clear.
Can't clear it up now. Have to go.
I wonder what Moby thinks of “Under my thumb”?
Moby is such a dick.
Moby is such a dick.
Moby is a piece of shit. He's always been a piece of shit.
I'm glad we've "evolved" about young ladies and age of consent. Moby might have a beef with:
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen (RIP Neil Sedaka)
Sweet Little Sixteen
Sixteen Candles
Edge of Seventeen (Just Like a White Wing Dove)
You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful, and you're Mine)
I Learned the Truth (at Seventeen)
(I am) Sixteen Going on Seventeen
...and...
...Well she was just 17, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN...
In the same article, Moby says he's sung "In Da Club" by 50 Cent at karaoke. You can look up those lyrics -- they're even worse than you'd think.
I wonder how Moby feels about "Walk on the Wild Side."
Or "Get Back" - Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman, but she was another man
Come back next week when Moby criticizes Mozart for the toxic masculinity he discovered in Don Giovanni.
The Kinks are fine - the music is what it is - and it's not transfobic (sic). Moby wants to make it about him and his 'higher plane' of existence in the music sphere.
aka. My music is better than your music.
And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie
You thirty-six year old baldheaded fag, blow me
You don't know me, you're too old, let go
It's over, nobody listen to techno
"Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more"
Notice that the lyrics do not say "'Til there are no poor no more."
@muccullough: Bruno dressed as an angel landing on Eminem in 2009. Showbiz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAnBes__11Y
All the girls around
They said she had it coming
But she gets it while she can...
"When Holly met Lola" is playing on Disney+ right now.
That might not be true.
Ann Althouse said...
"From Moby's professed standpoint, I would assume he'd view 'Lola' as pathbreaking."
You're underestimating how evolved he is.
I think the problem he's seeing is in "I'm a man and so is Lola." If Lola is transgender, the Lola is NOT a man and the singer is misgendering Lola.
But the song never establishes that Lola is transgender as opposed to a man in drag.
3/23/26, 8:43 AM
Is that a correct lyric from the song? Google says different. If Google is correct, then the line “and so is Lola” doesn’t necessarily mean Lola is a man. It could mean Lola is glad he is a man and can can satisfy Lola’s sexual desires.
“Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
La-la-la-la Lola”
Probably what largely if not mostly really gave apes and more particularly ape men a bad name was the media deciding to call the rapist serial killer Earle Nelson "Gorilla Man". A vile insult to apes. He murdered at least 20 females, mostly in the US. His murder spree ended June 16, 1927, eight days after he had murdered 14-y/o Lola Cowan in Winnipeg. She was the only victim to be mutilated and she was nine-years younger than any other of the female victims of his sex murders (he had earlier murdered a male baby while murdering her mother). His last murder victim, Emily Patterson, was killed in Winnipeg two days later, June 10, 1927, fifty years to the day before James Earl Ray escaped for a few days from Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. Otherwise, Ray had been incarcerated for good after having been arrested at Heathrow June 8, 1968, an anniversary of the murder of Lola Cowan. The arrest of Earle Nelson happened 268 days before Ray was born. The median length of the conception period (usually measured between ovulation and birth) in humans is within a day or two of that according to most medical authorities.
Moby is a retard.
How's that for unevolved?
If being "evolved" means that you have to think that chicks can have dicks, I'll remain "unevolved," thank you very much.
Now I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and in bed I'm a man
and so is Lola... L O L A Lola
LalalalaLola...
Listen again.
These are the lyrics
Ir's about sexx sex, not gender presentation
Some people fuck different and the parts God gave you have nothing to do with that. It's all in the head... hth
Free yourselves too and don't be so limited by physicality
Plenty of accessories and prosthetics now.
And four years before "Lola," Ray Davies had wondered:
I'm on a party line
Wonderin' all the time
Who's on the other end?
Is she big, is she small?
Is she a she at all?
Who's on my party line?
Echoing Bill, Republic of Texas, part of the humor of the song is the ambiguity of the line "I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola." Is Lola glad, a man, or both?
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