Walk Away Renée

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“Walk Away Renée”
Single by The Left Banke from the album Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina
Released	July 1966
Genre	Pop
Label	Smash
Writer(s)	Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, Tony Sansone
Producer	Harry Lookofsky
The Left Banke singles chronology
"Walk Away Renée" (1966) "Pretty Ballerina" (1966)

"Walk Away Renée" is a song made popular by the band The Left Banke in 1966 (single release: July 1966, Smash Records), composed by the group's then 16-year-old keyboard player Michael Brown (real name Michael Lookofsky) and Tony Sansone. Bob Calilli is also credited as a writer, though he didn't actually write any of the lyrics or music - he received credit in exchange for setting up the session in which the writing stage of the song was completed. The song was also a chart hit for the Motown group The Four Tops in 1968.

The song features a flute being played during the instrumental portion of the middle portion of the song. Michael Brown got the idea for the flute solo from The Mamas & the Papas song "California Dreamin'" which had been recorded in November of 1965 but wasn't a hit and in heavy rotation until early 1966.^[1] The song also includes a lush obbligato string orchestration, memorable harpsichord accompaniment, and a falling chromatic bass melody which led critics to refer to the group's sound as Baroque pop^[2], "Bach-Rock" or Baroque n Roll^[3].

Rolling Stone placed the song at number 220 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[4] After its initial release, it spent thirteen weeks on the charts with a top spot at #5.^[5] It has been widely covered by artists in a wide range of genres and styles, often with great success. For example, Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy recently covered the song on their album Adieu False Heart. The New York Times' reviewer Jon Pareles stated of their cover version that:

"Their spare reading of the Left Banke's 1965 hit "Walk Away Renee" brings the lyric's ache into full relief, and allows Ronstadt a brief return to the pop-rock milieu from which she emerged"

^[6].

Contents 1 The real Renée 2 Session details 3 Cultural references 4 Notable Cover Versions 5 References 6 External links

[edit] The real Renée

The song is one of a number Brown wrote about Renee Fladen-Kamm, then-girlfriend of The Left Banke's bassist Tom Finn and object of Brown's affection. She was associated with the band for a few weeks, and described as a free-spirited but quiet tall blonde. The song was written one month after Brown met her.^[7] Other songs written about her include the band's second hit "Pretty Ballerina" and "She May Call You Up Tonight". After decades of obscurity, she was identified in 2001 as a noted singer, vocal teacher and artist on the West Coast.^[8]

Brown says of his unrequited love for Renée:

"I was just sort of mythologically in love, if you know what I mean, without having evidence in fact or in deed...But I was as close as anybody could be to the real thing"^[9]

Fladen-Kamm was present for the recording of the song which nearly prevented it's completion. In an interview, Brown stated:

"My hands were shaking when I tried to play, because she was right there in the control room," he says. "There was no way I could do it with her around, so I came back and did it later.^[10]"

[edit] Session details

• Drums: Al Rogers
• Bass: John Abbott
• Guitar: George (Fluffer) Hirsh
• Harpsichord: Mike Brown
• Strings: Harry Lookofsky & Friends
• Flute: unknown session musician
• Arranger: John Abbott
• Lead Vocal: Steve Martin Caro
• Backing Vocals: George Cameron & Tom Finn
• Engineer: Steve Jerome
• Studio: World United NYC
• Date: early (1966)
• Produced By Harry Lookofsky, Steve Jerome, Bill Jerome^[11]

[edit] Cultural references

• Tom Scholz of the arena rock band Boston has credited the "heart-tugging mood" of "Walk Away Renee" as the main inspiration behind his band's signature hit "More Than A Feeling".^[12]

• The Belle and Sebastian song "Piazza New York Catcher" contains the line "You’d settle for an epitaph like 'Walk Away, Renee'."^[13]

• Gwen Stefani's middle name, Renee, was inspired by this song.^[14]

• Celebrity manicurist and Jazz recording artist, Deborah Lippman^[15] has a line of celebrity inspired nail colors which are frequently named after songs. One of her popular colors is a shade of burgundy co-created with Renée Zellweger and named after the song Walk Away Renée ^[16][17][18]

[edit] Notable Cover Versions

• Vonda Shepard sang it on the television series, Ally McBeal, referring to one of the characters who was called Renee. Her version appeared on the album, Songs From Ally McBeal.
• John O'Banion covered the song on his 1st EP "John O'Banion" 1981
• Rickie Lee Jones covered the song on her 1985 EP Girl at Her Volcano
• Billy Bragg has covered the song, but with different lyrics.^[19]
• Tori Amos performed this song live, in-concert during the Original Sinsuality Tour in Brisbane, Australia on May 10, 2005.^{[citation needed]}
• Elliott Smith, T'Pau, Angel (band), and Onelinedrawing recorded covers of "Walk Away Renée".^{[citation needed]}
• The Ronstadt/Savoy cover was used as a closing song for NBC's Crossing Jordan in January 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Walk Away Renee - Left Banke Machinima Video
• leftbanke.nu