Music Monday: Discovering queer songs
Music Monday: Discovering queer songs
Time for some more pride related music which is going to be tricky. I have already covered pride anthems so I guess we have to dig a little deeper now. 10 songs last time, don’t know how many will be covered here.
Lola by The Kinks (1970)
This is an interesting song, quite accepting and progressive. But it is important to remember and understand the decade the song was made in. The 1970s was the beginning of acceptance, but society at the time was still very homophobic. The group behind this song was ahead of their time really.
The origin behind this song is quite telling. Ray Davies claimed the song was inspired after his manager spent the night with a cross dresser or fem man in Paris. Drummer Mick Avory said it was inspired by being invited to drag and trans acts in pubs, with Ray being inspired after somebody invited the group. Ray claimed he had done research on drag queens for the song and denied it was written due to a date between himself and Candy Darling.
She was a trans woman and a trailblazer. Great name by the way and also somebody I never knew about. Maybe there is a blog post about her to be made. To give Ray Davies some credit, he pushed back against critics of the song saying the gender of Lola did not matter. The group is quite proud of the song too. But still, the song faced issues like being banned in Australia and fading or cutting off the lyrics. This is where it gets real. It has its critics in some respects and depending on your ear it has aged, but it does provide one with great insight into the times and views. In many ways, if you follow what the band says, it is a gay rock ballad. The first real one? Maybe, I am not sure.
It is a strange song listening to it now with that blend of acoustic rock and hard rock. The band is happy they recorded it and found success with it because without it, the group was most likely screwed. It is a sign of just how far things have come and represents those breakout moments in 1970 for LGBTQ folks, with this song being a bit of an anthem in some respects. If you ignore the times it is easy to paint this as transphobic, but it really is not. It is quite a positive and accepting song. He is singing about somebody he was going to have a night with. I remember listening to the song and thinking it sounds sweet. For fem guys, drag queens, or trans people, it really is a lovely song all things considered. A true breakout moment into the mainstream.
Candy Says by The Velvet Underground (1969)
Candy Darling is mentioned in a couple of songs which just shows off her influence during her short life. They are really powerful and reflective songs from artists who met her and were inspired. I remember hearing about Andy Warhol and it turns out there is a connection here. From what I know he was a photographer and director, while she was an actress.
Doing a bit of research, she was actually refused entry to Stonewall for being a trans woman just months before the riots took place. She would also be removed from gay bars for similar reasons. Again, this highlights how far we have come and how we have moved toward being more inclusive. Work still to be done; things have moved forward but we are still making the same mistakes as the past. She lived not far from those places, which leads us nicely to this track.
Candy Says gives Candy a voice. Produced in 1969, listening to the song now makes it clear how much pain she was in. What is even more incredible is how the band gave her that voice. It is a song where it is easy to miss the meaning, and that is what makes it so powerful and strong. She must have left quite an impression on the band for them to get a view into her mind like that. Or maybe she helped them write it, I don’t know.
But the song is moving, sweet, and a small piece of her. She is somebody I never knew about until doing this blog and she was hidden from view. Even on her hospital bed she has a glamour and aura that you can feel in the picture. She died from cancer at just age 29. It is rather hard to talk about the song because it is so tender and so relatable in a way. I have no idea about the genre or style, but I know it hits home. I appreciate Music Monday is meant to be on the lighter side of things, but these two songs deal with tricky subjects and even after all this time they still hit hard.
Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed (1972)
It is not the only song about her. Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed is the more upbeat side of the story. Lou Reed helped write Candy Says as he was part of that band. I am not going to go into too much detail here but the song is much more upbeat. It talks about her journey and life. It was released in 1972 and it is a celebration of trans women.
When you consider how taboo that was, it really is quite a story. When you understand the history here things slot into place. I know I should write more about it but really give it a listen and reflect on it. It just feels right to end this blog post here and not force more songs out. Perhaps I can find some more trans focused songs and trans masc based ones for the next one.
I did find Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls (1989) which is a lesbian anthem song, and Prove It on Me Blues by Ma Rainey (1928) which is a real trailblazer singing about liking women and breaking gender norms. Trying to find songs about trans men has been like trying to find a diamond in the rough. The next post is going to be an even bigger pain in the butt to find music for. Not just from the 1970s, but even today mainstream songs about it are few and far between.
If you want something more lighthearted to finish on, there is Dude (Looks Like a Lady) by Aerosmith (1987). It was actually written with a gay songwriter, Desmond Child, and was inspired by a mix-up with the guys from Mötley Crüe. It is a positive song about a queer experience and not mocking it. It focused a lot on femininity, so next time I will have to look for the opposite end of things.