The Kinks’ Dave Davies has suggested Moby should be “careful what he says” after the fellow musician slammed his band’s classic song, “Lola”.
The American artist name-checked the single by the British rock band in a Q&A about his “honest playlist”, in which he chose songs for certain moods or situations.
Asked by The Guardian about the song he could “no longer listen to”, he named “Lola” after it came up on a Spotify playlist: “I thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic,” he said.
“I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are.”
Responding on X, Davies, 79, wrote: “I don’t wanna show the guy up, but Moby should be careful what he says.”
I don’t wanna show the guy up, but Moby should be careful what he says. the cockettes
— Dave Davies (@davedavieskinks) March 23, 2026
And their friends used to follow us around on tour. We appreciated them. 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?
He recalled The Cockettes, an LGBTQ+ theatre community formed in San Francisco, following the band around on tour: “We appreciated them.”
Davies added: “Why is Moby being so rude about this simple song? We’re not transphobic. Why does he have to have a go at us?”
Written by frontman Ray Davies for The Kinks’ 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, “Lola” was inspired by an encounter he and the band had at a nightclub – along with the trans men, women and drag queens they knew in Soho at the time.
The lyrics follow the narrator as he dances with a woman named Lola who “walked like a woman but talked like a man”, later declaring: “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.”
“I am highly insulted that Moby would accuse my brother of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way,” Davies wrote on X.
He also shared a message from his friend, “trans icon” Jayne County – the first trans rock singer – who commented on the song.
“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!” County said.
“‘Lola’ for me 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…”
She added: “‘Lola’ broke down the doors of narrow-mindedness and I will always be grateful and happy that The Kinks gave me this incredible song with such a great story! Being trans myself this will always be a very special song for me.”
In 2017, a group of Canadian students were criticised for suggesting that Lou Reed’s 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side” was offensive to the trans community.
The students sparked derision from a number of music fans, as well as Reed’s friends and collaborators, for their concern over the track from his album Transformer.
Hal Wilner, Reed's longtime producer, said at the time: “I don't know if Lou would be cracking up at this or crying because it's just too stupid. The song was a love song to all the people he knew and to New York City by a man who supported the community and the city his whole life.”
Both “Lola” and “Walk on the Wild Side” were censored by certain radio stations upon their release because of their “controversial” subject matter.
Ray Davies said in a 2020 interview with the i Paper that the song was written out of “admiration more than anything else” and expressed his support for trans rights, stating that the whole album, Lola Versus Powerman, was a celebration of artistic freedom and the right “for anyone to be gender free if one wishes”.
It has been praised on a number of occasions by prominent figures in the transgender community, including trans rights activist Mara Keisling, who told NBC in 2020 that the song was “life-saving”, as it made her feel less alone in the world.
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