It's not necessarily written about a transvestite. Ray writes the song to be deliberately ambiguous. We're never really told if Lola is a man or a woman with masculine qualities. Even the last line which most people think is the giveaway line. But if you look at it closely.
"I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola" -- Lola could be a man or he cold be glad the narrator is a man. In other words Lola is either glad or a man. Deliberately ambiguous. Ray intended it that way, so anyone that says they're sure one way or another of Lola's gender doesn't know what they're talking about.
If the narrator/writer of the song intended to have 2 meanings then you can't say it absolutely has to be one or the other.
It's not necessarily written about a transvestite. Ray writes the song to be deliberately ambiguous. We're never really told if Lola is a man or a woman with masculine qualities. Even the last line which most people think is the giveaway line. But if you look at it closely.
"I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola" -- Lola could be a man or he cold be glad the narrator is a man. In other words Lola is either glad or a man. Deliberately ambiguous. Ray intended it that way, so anyone that says they're sure one way or another of Lola's gender doesn't know what they're talking about.
If the narrator/writer of the song intended to have 2 meanings then you can't say it absolutely has to be one or the other.
This is the genius of Ray Davies.