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You are here: Home / Music / Song of the week

Song of the week

by DougJ|  October 8, 20111:54 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Music, Readership Capture

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A personal favorite of mine, I have to admit. (EDIT: This and all songs of the week posts are written by JPK of Can’t Explain, not by me.)

Left Banke, “Walk Away Renee” (1966)
I know this is a favorite of DougJ’s and who am I to second-guess that? This exquisite mid-’60s chamber orchestra production is so artfully executed, so sad and yet so lovely, with its sawing strings and soothing flute solo (borrowed from “California Dreamin'”) and all its little touches, that it’s kind of hard to grok that it actually became a top 5 hit, but there you have it. Fun facts, courtesy Wikipedia: Boston’s Tom Scholz has said this was a primary inspiration behind “More Than a Feeling.” Rod Stewart named his daughter Renee because this is one of his favorite songs. Gwen Stefani’s middle name is Renee because of this song.

The other hit: “Pretty Ballerina”
More stuff at Can’t Explain.

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Previous Post: « Half And Half Again: Race, Privilege, And Discourse
Next Post: Drink of the week »

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 8, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    Who or what is Dougerhead? I has a confused.

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    October 8, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    I know this is a favorite of DougJ’s

    Going Ricky Henderson on us now?

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    October 8, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I had assumed it was a response to the Rick Perry Niggerhead controversy.
    But now I think that after years and years of split personality trolling, DougJ has finally cracked.

  4. 4.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    One of my favorite songs in the world.

    Here’s to the Left Banke from the Left Bank.

  5. 5.

    Elliecat

    October 8, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Poignant for sure. One of those songs heard in childhood that filled me with an ache that made me both long for and dread growing up.

    On the other hand, I’ve always thought “Pretty Ballerina” was crap.

  6. 6.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 8, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    But now I think that after years and years of split personality trolling, DougJ has finally cracked.

    Is this a new development, aren’t mathematicians supposed to be crazy? A beautiful mind and all that..

  7. 7.

    burnspbesq

    October 8, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    1966 was a good year for ballads:

    God Only Knows
    When a Man Loves a Woman
    Cherish
    Monday, Monday
    Strangers in the Night
    this one

  8. 8.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I gave up long ago trying to make any sense of real entities and which belongs to which name. There’s a cat I think, the rest is decoration.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    October 8, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    I have a song for those willing to admit that they are longhorn fans today. link

  10. 10.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I think quantum theory has something about how you can know DougJ’s position or his nick at any given time, but not both.

    Edit: In fact, you should know, if anyone does.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 8, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Or Bob Dole.

    You’re right about the song…the strings, the flute solo…magnificent.

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    October 8, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    Is JPK of Can’t Explain the same one that contributed the Flamin’ Groovies to Cleek’s list? Always glad to discover I’m not the only fan of something.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    October 8, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Is this a new development, aren’t mathematicians supposed to be crazy? A beautiful mind and all that..

    To the contrary, IMO. DougJ has masterfully held together a series of parallel existences, some overlapping and some divergent. To my way of thinking, it’s been the overlap that’s the hardest part to shed at needed times. Any good method actor, or method writer, can slip into a villain or hero/anti-hero in successive terms.
    But trying to hold the line against encroaching similar thought processes seems like a much more varied challenge.
    It’s evident that DougJ, whoever that is, is clearly insane. I’m just contemplating when that comes to the fore in his multi-verse, and I hope to God he’s been taking extensive notes this whole time. Because they deserve to be published and studied.

  14. 14.

    gogol's wife

    October 8, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    “Walk Away Renee” is one of the greatest songs ever written.

  15. 15.

    burnspbesq

    October 8, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    There’s also this from 1966:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n03a7cLf0M

  16. 16.

    JPK

    October 8, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    @MikeJ: Yes, that’s me!

  17. 17.

    wenchacha

    October 8, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    Rickie Lee Jones does a nice cover of this.

  18. 18.

    MikeJ

    October 8, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    @JPK: Cross blog pollination!

  19. 19.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 8, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    I remember that song very well from junior high (yeah, I’m that old), but never could understand most of the lyrics. Didn’t really care; just belting out the chorus in study hall provoked the first-year English teacher beyond all proportion.

  20. 20.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    This is another one that seems similar in both how timeless it is and how it was the only song anyone knew from them.

    This is actually where I learned to love it, oddly, after having heard it for years. The movie short was good, but Scorsese’s choice of music just slayed me for some reason, as well as the revelation that Nick Nolte was in this.

  21. 21.

    Maude

    October 8, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    @gogol’s wife:
    I could hear that song in my mind as I read the title I have heard it so many times.

  22. 22.

    Irony Abounds

    October 8, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    The Four Tops version ain’t half bad either

  23. 23.

    Shana

    October 8, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Marshall Crenshaw did a damn fine version too. Although, truth be told, Marshall Crenshaw does most things pretty well.

  24. 24.

    eemom

    October 8, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    yikes. I hate that song and thought everyone else did too. What have I DONE?

  25. 25.

    Dougerhead

    October 8, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    @Shana:

    Funny, I remembered the name from when I was growing up but I never knew any of his songs til my cousin played his first album for me a few years ago. He wrote some great songs.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Mary

    October 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    Balloon Juice: “There’s a cat I think, the rest is decoration.”

  27. 27.

    Svensker

    October 8, 2011 at 2:55 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    This is another one that seems similar in both how timeless it is and how it was the only song anyone knew from them.

    Yes. For some reason both Whiter Shade of Pale and Walk Away Renee touched something in my young teen soul — such longing, such….something! I knew they were deep, wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew it. Still love ’em.

  28. 28.

    dj spellchecka

    October 8, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    yet another fantastic left banke song

    “she may call you up tonight”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ag4EV9iyS0

  29. 29.

    gogol's wife

    October 8, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    @Irony Abounds:

    Yes, beautiful.

  30. 30.

    Svensker

    October 8, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Boston’s Tom Scholz has said this was a primary inspiration behind “More Than a Feeling.”

    That is NOT a Good Thing.

    In the deep vein, there’s always this

  31. 31.

    eemom

    October 8, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    ok, now Whiter Shade of Pale I can get into.

    Particularly like the Chaucer ref, “as the miller told his tale.” At least I always assumed it was a Chaucer ref.

  32. 32.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    @eemom: Some of the best most abstract pop song lyrics ever. Here’s an attempt to make sense of it, and here’s a whole page. Here’s one of the band members explaining.

    Oddly, I never had the slightest trouble understanding them at least on a gut level, I suspect anyone who’s toured as a musician for a living wouldn’t either.

  33. 33.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Huh. And (since my previous comment is in moderation, maybe too many links) from that collection, here’s Martin Scorcese’s take:

    “Although it’s a small film, I’m as pleased with it as with any of the others. I used Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale because, for me, it captured the whole feeling of loss – the sense of a relationship ending and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

    Which is exactly what I was going through when I saw that movie. No wonder.

  34. 34.

    phoebesmother

    October 8, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    The Left Banke is fine but have you heard the version by Ann Savoy and Linda Ronstadt on “Adieu False Heart”? It’ll break your heart.

  35. 35.

    Cat Lady

    October 8, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    Here’s another one that always got to me like Don’t Walk Away Renee did, but Valerie Carter did the best version in the movie Over The Edge – an AWESOME movie, btw. The Turtles, Young Rascals and the Grass Roots take me back, also too.

  36. 36.

    jharp

    October 8, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    One of my all time favorites as well.

    A beautiful song.

  37. 37.

    piratedan

    October 8, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    @burnspbesq: I’ll see your Knickerbockers and raise you this…..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy3ZZO9rguk&feature=related

  38. 38.

    MattF

    October 8, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    @Svensker: It’s called Weltschmerz.

  39. 39.

    Frankie T.

    October 8, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    I love the version of this tune by The Left Banke. The version by the Four Tops, with the full Motown treatment, is pretty awesome, too.

    Irony Abounds got there first with the link.

  40. 40.

    MattF

    October 8, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    My linky-thingy didn’t work. I meant this:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz

  41. 41.

    Linkmeister

    October 8, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    @phoebesmother: Here’s a video, unfortunately not the official one which includes Ann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSXfMQuiqwg

    The whole album is rootsy.

  42. 42.

    James Gary

    October 8, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    Let us not forget Billy Bragg’s “version”…with loopy stream-of-consciousness rambling over the song’s guitar part:

    “I confronted her about it…I said, “I’m the most illegible bachelor in town. And she said, “Yeah–that’s why I could never understand any of those silly letters you sent me.”

    http://www.asklyrics.com/display/billy-bragg/walk-away-renee-version-lyrics.htm

  43. 43.

    Lynn Dee

    October 8, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    A favorite of mine too, way back when.

  44. 44.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    @MattF: Also this.

    El duende is the spirit of evocation. It comes from inside as a physical/emotional response to music. It is what gives you chills, makes you smile or cry as a bodily reaction to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive.

    Reading about Weltschmerz also makes me think of the Wallace Stevens line: “It can never be satisfied, the mind, never”.

  45. 45.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 8, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    @eemom: Wow, Whiter Shade of Pale… The summer of 1967, summer school at St. George’s School, Newport, Rhode Island, struggling with math homework, listening to Top 40 from WBZ in Boston on a tinny clock radio. That song takes me right there, even down to the strange smell in the stairwell…

  46. 46.

    alex milstein

    October 8, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    I don’t think it is hard to grasp how a beautiful sounding record like Walk Away, Renee made it to the top five. I think it did BECAUSE it sounded so different from what we had previously heard. And I think the times (and radio) were very different back then, not as formulaic as they are today, when artists were embraced because they tried something truly new. Just think, back then you could hear the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Miracles, Temptations, Rascals, and on and on. Today, Lady Gaga is heralded because she sounds like Madonna.

  47. 47.

    alex milstein

    October 8, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Left Banke also scored with ‘Pretty Ballerina.’ And I remember another tune of theirs: ‘Barterers and their Wives.’ And just because the hits didn’t keep on coming, that doesn’t diminish what they actually did do. Groups didn’t always go on forever, much less make it to their second album.

  48. 48.

    Linkmeister

    October 8, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    @alex milstein: Hell, back then you could hear movie scores on AM radio along with those groups. The “Theme from A Summer Place” was played a lot, along with “Born Free” and “Lara’s Theme,” from Dr. Zhivago.

  49. 49.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 8, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    @Linkmeister: You could even pick up satellites now and then.

  50. 50.

    General Stuck

    October 8, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    Great tune. you have been going down the list of my teeny bop heartache years.

    Another one – Lovin’ Spoonful – Do You Believe in Magic?

    And another that was formative in my early music listening years.

    Glen Campbell – Witchita Lineman

  51. 51.

    Vickie Feminist

    October 8, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    In my hippy days, we were all listening to Sgt.Pepper round the clock. When I was asked what was my favorite song from it, I answered, “Just Walk Away Renee.” The serious music crowd howled. I truly loved that song.

    BTW Loving reading Confidence Men–it’s fast and fascinating and a true chop job on the well deserving Summers & Geithner.

  52. 52.

    Dougerhead

    October 8, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    @General Stuck:

    I love Wichita Lineman.

  53. 53.

    SuzieC

    October 8, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Don’t care for it. Never did. The lead singer is singing thru his nose. Mr. # 38, though, yeah.

  54. 54.

    SuzieC

    October 8, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    Wow, I just looked at the Top 100 hits of 1966. Incroyable! Can’t forget this:
    http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=vFN65Lp0MHc&offerid=146261.77685917&type=2&subid=0

  55. 55.

    Sarah in Brooklyn

    October 8, 2011 at 7:56 pm

    Love this song. Elliott Smith did a gorgeous live cover.

  56. 56.

    Jeff

    October 8, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    @wenchacha: As do the Four Tops!

  57. 57.

    George Wallace's Goat

    October 8, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    Rhapsody describes The Left Banke as the first group to be labelled “Baroque Rock” (or to my mind, Baroque Pop).

  58. 58.

    priscianusjr

    October 8, 2011 at 11:07 pm

    And Renee, my girlfriend for four years, had just walked away when this came out. You don’t think I’d forget that, do you?

  59. 59.

    Elliecat

    October 8, 2011 at 11:09 pm

    @General Stuck: @Dougerhead: Wichita Lineman still gets me.

  60. 60.

    steve

    October 8, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    Walk Away Renee was produced by my friend Ken Schaffer, who also invented the wireless mike and guitar. He was also married to the woman who played the one-legged Russian on The Sopranos. Finally, Ken also believes that he is the source of the question “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?,” asked of Dan Rather by two guys who mugged him.

    Ken is a remarkable guy who knew nothing of sound engineering of a rock ‘n; roll song when he produced Walk Away Renee for Ricky Brand, who was our high school classmate.

    For more on his remarkable life, see:

    http://nutcom.com/nyer/ and http://books.google.com/books?id=N-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=ken+schaffer+inventor+new+yorker&source=bl&ots=NEQQ5dt4nx&sig=q2He4_GTeklNsLeQJkFbGxMVNm4&hl=en&ei=KA2RTqepGOfisQKdjbGvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

  61. 61.

    Cat Lady

    October 9, 2011 at 12:16 am

    @steve:

    I’m so glad I came back to read the rest of this thread.

    Far fucking out. Did he know what the frequency was? And why did they think Dan Rather was Kenneth?

  62. 62.

    Cat Lady

    October 9, 2011 at 12:34 am

    Ahhhhh. I skimmed through the long article, but there it is in the other link. Another mystery solved, and no REM to update their song.

  63. 63.

    Paul in KY

    October 10, 2011 at 9:04 am

    @Vickie Feminist: ‘Lovely Rita’ has always been a favourite of mine.

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