'Highly Insulted': Rock Legend Dave Davies Slams Moby For Calling 'Lola' Transphobic

The Kinks guitarist used messages of support from two trailblazing musicians to clap back at Moby and his take on the song.

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.”