Whatever Lola Wants

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 by Lola, the Devil's assistant, a part originated by Gwen Verdon, who reprised the role in the film. The saying was reportedly inspired by Lola Montez, an Irish-born "Spanish dancer" and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who later became a San Francisco Gold Rush vamp.^[1]

Also recorded by

• Natacha Atlas
• Les Baxter
• Ran Blake
• Bob & Ray
• Les Brown
• Petula Clark
• Alma Cogan (1957)
• Xavier Cugat
• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Gracie Fields
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Gotan Project
• The Hi-Lo's - A Musical Thrill (2006)
• Molly Johnson
• Louis Jordan
• Stan Kenton - The Stage Door Swings (1958)
• Eartha Kitt
• Abbe Lane
• Gayle Lark
• Carmen McRae
• Amanda Lear: On album With Love (2006)
• Sophie Milman (2007, Live at Winter Garden Theatre)
• Bebe Neuwirth
• Caroline O'Connor
• Julius Pringles (2001)
• Della Reese
• Aldemaro Romero
• Dinah Shore (1955)
• Ruby Stewart
• Mel Tormé
• Sarah Vaughan (1955)
• Gwen Verdon
• Baby Face Willette
• Barbara Ireland (2010)
• Marinella (1992, album I Marinella Tragouda Megales Kyries)
• Reeve Carney Live at Molly Malone’s (2006)
• Dee Snider for the Dee Does Broadway album (2012)

Alan Sherman, in the song "Kiss of Meyer", which is a parody of the song "Kiss of Fire", ends the song with the quote: "Whatever Meyer Wants/ Meyer Gets/ That is his name/ His name is Meyer Getz."

Other instances

"Whatever Lola Wants" is the title of an episode of the situation comedy television series Hot Properties.

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.^[2]

The Lola Car company is reportedly named after this song when Eric Broadley (the founder of Lola) heard the line "What Lola wants, Lola gets" in 1959. (Source August 2010 Classic Cars magazine)

The song was also used by Mario Lopez and his partner Karina Smirnoff in Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Their tango to it was voted the best celebrity dance ever by the judges of DWTS on their 100th Episode show. The song was also featured in an episode of Nip Tuck.

The song can also be found in a 2011 Pepsi commercial featuring Sofia Vergara and David Beckham.

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

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

References

External links

• Whatever Lola Wants at the Internet Movie Database
• Damn Yankees at the Internet Movie Database
• "Whatever Lola Wants" at MusicBrainz
• Damn Yankees at the Internet Broadway Database
• Hot Properties episode plot summary on tv.com
• Whatever Lola Wants