Awhile back, I was in the car with my dad (
^z) and
The Kinks' "Lola" came on the air. As we listened, my dad mentioned a theory that a friend of his had, that Lola in the song was actually a man.
I'm sorry to say that I objected most strongly to this theory. In retrospect, it's clear that the interpretation isn't so unthinkable as I seemed to consider it, and in fact it can be argued from the lyrics that such an interpretation is reasonable. In all honesty, I don't know what the precise reason I had for believing that interpretation to be ridiculous – it may have been anything from an implicit belief that if a person presents herself as female, she should be considered so, or it may have been merely my identifying with the singer in some respect, and refusing the idea that I was by proxy fantasizing about a guy. Neither of these theories is as likely as my having simply thought "The singer said 'she', so it's a she, Q.E.D.", though. (I've always been a fan of believing the narrator.)
However, thinking it over again, I think I must reaffirm my earlier judgment, although not so dogmatically. In my judgment, the female Lola theory seems better supported by the lyrics, although in either interpretation there is clearly interesting mixtures of gender roles suggested.
Notably,
Wikipedia's "Lola (song)" article focuses on the gender argument. Clearly my dad's college friend was far from alone.
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