Dave Davies, the iconic lead guitarist of The Kinks, isn’t having it with musician and activist Moby after he called out the lyrics of the band’s hit song “Lola” in a recent interview.
Moby, in part of an “honest playlist” feature for The Guardian (U.S.), named “Lola” as the song he “can no longer listen to.”
“Lola by the Kinks came up on a Spotify playlist, and I thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic,” said the musician. “I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are.”
The 1970 number includes lyrics about a young man meeting Lola — someone who “walked like a woman but talked like a man” — at a bar in London’s Soho district. It has been celebrated by LGBTQ+ community members and is considered by music critics to be among the greatest songs of all time.
Ray Davies, lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, told The New York Times in 2020 that he “did a bit of research with drag queens” while writing the song and noted that he admires “anyone who can get up and be what they want to be.”
His brother, Dave Davies, took to social media on Sunday to declare that he’s “highly insulted” by the comments from “@thislittleidiot Moby.”
He also shared messages of support from trans punk rock pioneer Ginger Coyote as well as Jayne County, rock’s first openly trans singer.
“When I heard the song I was both thrilled and amazed that the Kinks would be singing a song about a trans person and wondered if anyone else had picked up on it!” read the message from County.
“Who was cool or hip enough to realize what The Kinks we’re singing about! Lola will always be one of those songs that for me ‘broke the ice’ so to speak! A song that breaks down barriers and brings a used to be, hush, hush subject to the forefront and makes it sound perfectly natural to be singing a song about a ‘girl’ named Lola!”
Dave Davies, in a separate post to X, wrote that he didn’t want to show Moby up but advised him to “be careful what he says.”
“the cockettes And their friends used to follow us around on tour. We appreciated them,” wrote Davies of the San Francisco hippie drag troupe from the ’70s.
“Why is Moby being so rude about this simple song? We’re not trans phobic. Why does he have to have a go at us?”
JS has reached out to Moby’s representatives for comment.
