Whatever Lola Wants

For the 2007 film of the same name, see Whatever Lola Wants (film).
Lola Montez, 1847.

"Whatever Lola Wants" is a popular song, sometimes rendered as "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets". The music and words were written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross for the 1955 musical play Damn Yankees. The song is sung to Joe Hardy by Lola, the Devil's assistant, a part originated by Gwen Verdon, who reprised the role in the film. The saying was inspired by Lola Montez,[1] an Irish-born "Spanish dancer" and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who later became a San Francisco gold rush vamp.[2]

Also recorded by

Other instances

"Whatever Lola Wants" is the title of an episode of the 2005 television series Hot Properties and the title of an episode of ABC-TV's 1965 crime drama Honey West.[5]

A film entitled Whatever Lola Wants, directed by Nabil Ayouch and starring Laura Ramsey as Lola, premiered on 11 December 2007 at the Dubai International Film Festival and was scheduled for release in France on 16 April 2008.[6]

The Lola Car company is reportedly named after this song when company founder Eric Broadley heard the line "What Lola wants, Lola gets" in 1959.[7]

Norman Bailey played the song as a trumpet solo on the first live television broadcast of The Lawrence Welk Show on July 2, 1955.

Chiwetel Ejiofor sang the song for the 2005 film Kinky Boots.

Mario Lopez and his partner Karina Smirnoff used the song in season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Their tango to it was voted the best celebrity dance ever by the judges of Dancing with the Stars on their 100th episode. Several seasons later, Joanna Krupa and her temporary partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy performed an Argentine tango to the song, in season 9.

The song was featured in the 2006 French film Hors de Prix (English title, Priceless) starring Gad Elmaleh and Audrey Tatou.[8]

The song appeared in a 2011 Diet Pepsi commercial featuring Sofia Vergara and David Beckham, and in a 2014 Magnum Italian commercial, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ice cream brand owned by the British/Dutch Unilever.

In the Pen15 episode "Bat Mitzvah," Becca (Sami Rappoport) sings "Whatever Lola Wants" as she enters her bat mitzvah reception.

References

  1. ^ McCormack, Mike. "A Rose by Any Other Name" (PDF). Ancient Order of Hibernians. New York State Board - Ancient Order of Hibernians. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Lola Montez". San Francisco History Index.
  3. ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  4. ^ "www.allmusic.com". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  5. ^ "Honey West: Whatever Lola Wants". YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
  6. ^ "Whatever Lola Wants (2007)". IMDb.
  7. ^ Classic Cars magazine, August 2010
  8. ^ "Hors de Prix (2006)". IMDb.