My Top 1000 Songs #627: Walk Away Renee

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Not a lot to say here. If you enjoy baroque pop, this 1966 single by NYC act the Left Banke is kinda the holy talisman--a gleefully infectious tune with classical strains, a string section, and a flute solo. I go back and forth between whether "Walk Away Renee" or the follow-up single, "Pretty Ballerina," is my personal favorite; mostly just a coin toss, though the chorus of "Renee" sports an undeniably perfect earworm hook. 

Anyway, you can spend hours going through the convoluted wormhole of the band's history, or even the battle over who the song was written for. Or just listen to the song and smile.

Video:

Lots of covers out there; here's Marshall Crenshaw:

Linda Ronstadt:

Badly Drawn Boy & Jools Holland: