Lola

The song tells the story of a shy, inexperienced narrator who meets Lola in a club and is drawn to her, even though he feels confused by the way she looks and speaks. His feelings shift from uncertainty and surprise to attraction and acceptance. By the end, he seems comfortable with their relationship and with his own sense of being a man.

Some images suggest the club’s lively, slightly unreal atmosphere: champagne that tastes like cola is a playful contrast between glamour and something ordinary. “Electric candlelight” also mixes the traditional and the modern, giving the scene a dreamlike feel. When Lola squeezes him so tightly that he nearly breaks his spine, the exaggeration humorously shows her strength and his vulnerability. The phrase “make me a man” can mean guiding him into adult experience, though it also has a sexual implication.

The song treats gender and attraction as confusing to the narrator, but its repeated idea of a “mixed up” world may also suggest that familiar categories do not always fit people neatly. His reaction is not perfectly clear: he briefly pushes Lola away, then appears to accept what is happening and says he is glad to be a man. This can be read as a comic story of discovery, while still leaving some uncertainty about exactly how he understands Lola and himself.