Until I got a little concerned about the privacy implications I used to have posted here a photo of Renee Fladen-Kamm who inspired not one but three Left Banke songs, including “Walk Away Renee”. Her muse credits also include “She May Call You Up Tonight” and “Pretty Ballerina” . There’s so much written about her since she resurfaced in the public’s attention in the early 2000s that I won’t add to the chatter. You can read stuff here and here and here.
“Baroque Rock” was the moniker this type of song was given. The term itself doesn’t do justice to either “baroque music” or “rock music” and is often more of a sugary confection than “rock” or the classical sub-genre. In any event, “Walk Away Renee” beautifully spewed forth from AM radios across the US in the late 60s. This song and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” do have a timeless charm, though, that seem to transcend the trash-can disposability of most pop music.
Muses like Renee Fladen-Kamm do obtain a certain immortality that extend beyond the context of the Top 40. A portrait, a snapshot, a particular space and time and a real, visceral feeling. Harpsichords and organs have a place in the rock pantheon and I’m thankful that some kids heard a little JS Bach and decided that was the gimmick that made the song sing. I wonder, though, what Renee thought and what she now thinks.
You can request one of the above mentioned Left Banke tunes or try one of their other fetching 3-minute opuses.
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