“Walk Away Renee” (The Left Banke/The Four Tops)

Our classic baroque pop song of the day is “Walk Away Renee,” a big hit for both the Left Banke and the Four Tops. It’s one of my personal favorite songs of all time.

“Walk Away Renee” was written by Left Banke members Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, and Tony Sansome. Brown drove the composition, inspired by (and infatuated with) the girlfriend of the band’s bass player, Tom Finn. The young girl in question, Renée Fladen, was a tall, free-spirited blonde, an aspiring ballerina, who inspired not only “Walk Away Renee” but two other Left Banke songs, “Pretty Ballerina” and “She May Call You Up Tonight.”

To put things in perspective, Mr. Brown and Ms. Fladen were just 17 years old at the time. Mr. Brown explains how he fell head over heels for the girl:

“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.”

Not surprisingly, the lyrics are a little melodramatic, but not if you’re 17 years old:

From deep inside the tears that I’m forced to cry
From deep inside the pain that I chose to hide

Just walk away, Renée
You won’t see me follow you back home
Now, as the rain beats down upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

Ah, teenaged love.

The song is a remarkable composition, especially when you consider Mr. Brown’s age at the time. I particularly like the descending bass part in the verse, which goes A – E/G# – Em/G – Bm/F# – Fdim – A/E – D/F# – D/E – D – D/C# – B7, which is very sophisticated and really drives the tune. There’s a similar descending bass line in the chorus, going A – A/E – F#m – F#m/C# – D. The boy could write.

(As a side note, the band caught the attention of no less an eminence than the great Leonard Bernstein, who commented that their follow-up hit, “Pretty Ballerina”, was “the perfect example of what rock music could be.” He pointed out that “the tune is built, not in the usual major or minor scale, but in a combination of the Lydian and Mixolydian modes! Imagine that!”)

The Left Banke released “Walk Away Renee” in July of 1966 and the single went all the way to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #2 on the Cash Box Top 100). Their version defined the baroque pop genre with its harpsichord and string quartet backing. It is a great tune, as evidenced by Rolling Stone magazine ranking it as #220 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Personally, I’d rank it higher.

As is typical of a great tune, “Walk Away Renee” has been covered by a ton of different artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Rickie Lee Jones, Vonda Shepard, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. The best-known cover was by the Four Tops, who released their version in January of 1968. Their arrangement substituted horns for strings and a Harmon-muted trumpet solo for the original’s flute solo. Lead vocalist Levi Stubbs pulled out all the stops on this one, helping the song climb to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, #15 on the R&B/Soul chart, and #2 on Canada’s RPM Top Singles chart.

Michael Brown, who wrote “Walk Away Renee,” left the Left Banke before the release of their second album. He stayed in the music business but didn’t have any further big hits. He passed away in 2015, aged 65, of heart failure.

Renée Fladen, the inspiration behind the song, attended New York’s High School of Music and Art, the school depicted in the movie Fame. Now known as Renée Fladen-Kamm, she became a respected classical vocalist and vocal coach, known for her recordings of medieval music as the vocal director of the Berkeley-based Sherwood Consort. She’s still alive today, 75 years young.