The third verse develops her persona as a temptress, seducing with her eyes, “captivating all the men,” and convincing them that they are her great love to wield influence over them. This verse also specifies the typical audience member of her act as a Gold Rush miner, “howling loud like a wolf,” as these miners were notorious for their uninhibited carousing leisure activities. The second verse elaborates on the sex appeal of her performance, on her quintessentially “subversive” approach that disregarded “public morality,” particularly Victorian era gender conventions. The first verse simplistically proclaims her beauty, a quality upon which Gold Rush commentators unanimously agreed, and it introduces her infamous “Spider Dance” as “blinding,” or depriving viewers of reason. The first three verses of the 2013 song aptly describe many elements of Lola’s initial stardom and enduring legacy. As evidenced by Volbeat’s song, written over 150 years after Lola first became a sensation as a performer on the international circuit, she remains immortalized as “utterly erotic,” a “shady and a tempered dame,” essentially a femme fatale inseparably linked to the frenetic cultural cauldron of Gold Rush California. The lyrics tell the story of Lola Montez, a showgirl among the many who flocked to California during the Gold Rush of the 1850s with hopes of reinventing themselves. When the Danish rock-metal band Volbeat released their album Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies comprised of songs about legendary characters of the American West, the track “Lola Montez” immediately emerged as a favorite among fans and critics alike. You might fall and find the love of your life
When Lola was dancing and showing her skin Lifting her skirt, howling loud like a wolf
Her performance utterly erotic, subversive to all ideas Read the next two articles, “The Showgirl ‘Full of Sin’ or ‘Respectable Theatre’?” and “Lola Montez Denies Conventions in Her Image”. Note: this is the introduction to a short series on Lola Montez.
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