The Surprising Word That Forced The Kinks to Re-Record “Lola” Mid-Tour

The Kinks‘ “Lola” is innately controversial. The British rockers played off a story of a man unknowingly falling in love with a transgender person. To add another layer, they don’t seem to mind too much when they find out the truth.

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“The song came out of an experience in a club in Paris,” Davies once said. “I was dancing with this beautiful blonde, then we went out into the daylight and I saw her stubble…So I drew on that but colored it in, made it more interesting lyrically.”

It has become one of The Kinks’ calling cards, despite many in the older generation of rock listeners rejecting that sort of fluid sexuality. Given the themes at play here, it likely won’t come as a shock to you to learn that the band had to re-record this song before it was fit to be played on BBC Radio. However, it may not be for the reason you think. Learn why the band had to fly thousands of miles to re-record one word before “Lola” was ready for airplay.

The Surprising Reason The Kinks Had to Re-Record “Lola”

Radio, especially in decades past, had particular censorship rules. Around the time of this song’s release, the radio was a mass market, being one of the top ways listeners got their music. As such, it needed to be scrubbed of anything that didn’t fit within a particular station’s guidelines.

While you may be quick to think “Lola” was censored because of its controversial story, that’s not the case. A seemingly innocent word made singer Ray Davies fly back and forth to the U.S. several times to re-record this song.

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Of all the lyrics in this rock classic, “Coca-Cola” was the one that got this song rejected from the radio. If the band wanted this song to be played on the BBC, they needed to swap that word for a more generic term, “cherry cola.” The station wasn’t about to give away any free advertising.

The Kinks were on tour in America when they got the news, forcing Davies to head back home to England between shows. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a strong take on his first trip over, so he was forced to make a second trip.

They eventually got a take that took, earning them a massive hit both back home and in the U.S. Revisit “Lola,” below.

(Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)