The Left Banke, Walk Away Renee
I spent a couple of days in Miami back in the 70s with a friend, visiting a woman who said this song was written about her. I had my first Cuban sandwich that week, too.
I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t the Lefte Banke?
EDIT: This Wikipedia entry suggests my friend’s friend wasn’t being truthful. Or was mistaken.
Several years ago I wrote about the woman that (supposedly) inspired the song.
https://rockremnants.com/2015/03/20/song-of-the-week-revisited-walk-away-renee-pretty-ballerina-the-left-banke/
Good post. A reminder I should search this site before posting.
I’ve reposted songs too!
Great tune – another one that’s still begging to be covered by Bryan Ferry. There are very few unique songs, everything comes from something else and/or leads to something else, but this one has no obvious antecedents or successors. Even the Left Banke never even tried that I know of, and with a Top 5 hit you know the pressure was on to imitate it. The Four Tops covered it well a few years later but didn’t quite capture the melancholy.
This version gets there while muscling up.
https://youtu.be/P7TqO9VMPes
Not bad, I think that’s the best Southside Johnny I’ve heard.
Great covers by Rickie Lee Jones and Billy Bragg.