Left Banke -Walk away Renee (with lyrics)

I do not own the right to this song

[judithshreve]

In 1967 I gave birth to a little girl. I was 15 1/2+ one day old. There wasn’t even any discussion about the fact that she was going to go up for adoption. I spent seven of my nine months in a home for unwed mothers. My mother put me there so I wouldn’t “shame“ the family. I lived in orange county and she sent me to Los Angeles county. On April 11, 1967 I gave birth to that baby girl. While in the home for unwed mothers I made a very special friend, her name is Diana. This song was the reason why I gave my baby girl the middle name Renee. Every word to this song seemed to express everything I was feeling except for the tears I had. On my baby girl’s 18th birthday I called the adoption agency and I told them who I was and where I was in case you ever wanted to get a hold of me. I waited and waited full well knowing the odds of her trying to find me were pretty slim. One day while watching judge Wapner, on the peoples court, my phone rang. The woman asked me my name and I told her. She identified herself as being Maria somebody I don’t remember her name, from orange county adoption agency. My husband and I were getting ready to adopt a baby girl and for some reason it just didn’t click in my mind that orange county was in California and I now lived in Iowa. Then she asked me if I gave birth to a baby on April 11, 1967. I shut off the TV and said yes, yes! I asked Marie if she was trying to find me. Marie said yes she had just talked to her in her office and she very much wants to meet you. I jumped on the next plane to California. At 1 PM the following day I was given her address and I drove to her house. My heart was pounding. I started to cry and I couldn’t hold back the tears. She open the door and she had a baby in her arms. She said hi come on in. I walked in and there were two more little girls playing in the living room. She told me her name and then introduced me to the children. She told the kids this is your grandma. She had a really long couch… Probably nine or 10 feet long. We sat on her couch her at one end and me at the other LOL she looked at me and she said I have dreamed of this day since the day I knew I was adopted. She said I knew I looked just like you! And then she said, “wow!. I don’t look like you at all“ LOL I said no you look just like your father. I mean you really look like your father. She said I’m looking for him too. She said I found you from a private detective and the same detective is working on my biological father. She told me I know his name is William but I don’t know his last name yet. I told her his middle name is William and I told her she could fire her private detective because I talked to your father last night. She said you found him? I told him I didn’t find him that we had always stayed in contact just for this day. Here is his work phone number and home phone number and he told me to tell you to call him if you wanted to meet him. She didn’t even wait… She grabbed her phone and called him. He said he would be over after he went home from work and took a shower He showed up about 7 PM. That couch wasn’t long enough when we were sitting on it LOL he was plastered against one end and I was plastered against the other end. That couch seemed even smaller when my daughter and I were sitting on opposite ends LOL She sat on the floor with her little baby in her lap and just kept looking at him and looking at me and looking at him and looking at me many times. She looked at him and said I do look exactly like you. Yes he said you look exactly like me. Anyway, that was 1990. I was sad because she also had a brother and a sister who are no longer with us. I showed her their pictures and talked a lot about them. She sat there and cried because she said I’m sorry I missed them. Of course it wasn’t her fault she missed knowing them. It is now 2021 and I have been blessed since 1990. She is still in my life and very much so in her father’s life since she lives two blocks from him… Yes, she was raised two blocks from her biological father. She took dance lessons from my best friend. She was never really out of my life I just didn’t know where to find her. I love her dearly and I am so happy she found me. That’s the reason why this song is so important to me. I told her about the song and that I would like for her to listen to it sometime. She listen to it through YouTube with the lyrics. She said I cried for you because I know how much it would’ve hurt to know you had to give your baby away when you didn’t want to do it. Every time she hears that song she sends me a message and says today I am Renee. She loves music just like I do. We both believe that when words fail music speaks. Oh, one more thing, I have a degree in accounting and she has a degree in accounting LOL she may look like him but she’s just like me. Some days I wonder if that’s a good or bad thing LOL thanks for listening to my story.

[alansmith]

I am 65, I grew up with this...it still breaks my heart...such a powerful tune ...I have been blessed to have this inside me, part of me...Thank You Left Banke chaps!

[terereynolds]

I’m also 65 and we were so lucky to have had the best music ever created during our young lives, no one will ever be able to create and sing songs with such strong emotions like they did in our day. We are truly blessed

[Walt]

Great song from the best of times. Thank God that I'm a baby boomer. .

[ronpfeiffer]

The pain we've all had resonates in this song

[RicardoRoams]

This song triggers so many memories for me, high school, a special girl, family moving away, never seeing her again. Nostalgia can be so bittersweet.

[richardryan]

Baroque rock may be a mythical genre, but this song is a masterpiece.

[billd.]

How many of us watched someone walk away? How many have hearts upon a wall? And how many have rain fall upon their weary eyes? Rene was that mythological girl that each of us knew.

[dennisboyd]

Those of us who were teenager grew up in the 60s had a very special time, with Great music, cars, & sweet kind girls.

[philm.]

Some songs are timeless. This is one of them. Incredible.

[misutovi]

Still one of the most emotional songs ever written!

[goodmanisrael]

Wow, the memories this song holds for me. Lying in bed with a big clumsy transistor radio under my pillow and grooving to this song as well as thoughts of one of my earliest crushes - Renee F. who sat next to me in 8th grade Science, and usually ignored my presence. The song always brings back memories of walking home from school in the bitter grey winter days of Upstate New York, the scene was as melancholy as the song.

[christennant]

Never, never get tired of listening to this classic song.

[eaglerenee]

Hello. I remember this song well and playing on the radio in the 60's. Beautiful. By the way, I'm not the Renee in the song but my name is Renee.

[jamee]

They played the instrumental version at work today and I almost broke down crying. Such a simple song but so powerful. Thank you Left Banke for music that never dies❤️

[baritony]

Such a somber, dreary but pretty song. Back in the 70's I had a crush on a blond girl named Renee and her girlfriends' knew about it, they told her, but I didn't know that. At a party I let a floozy jump on me, in Renee's presence, and the party was stopped by the unexpected appearance of the hosts' mother . Her friends' said she was hurt---I had no idea. I let it go because we were young and I thought we had too much time ahead to stick together and too little experience. I can still see that beautiful face in my memory, ironically letting her walk away, back home without telling her I was enamored. Not a false word I speak now, a tear in my eyes and the curiosity of what might have been. It's such a coincidental experience/song and I wonder, all the time. I know it probably sounds like bull but I swear it's truthful. I regret some things of my naive youth.I hope she's well.

[moonwatcher]

Behold the power of the unrequited teenage crush, of the first love.
Something as simple as a beautiful melody floods the heart with so many fond memories.
Bittersweet.

[asitiswritten]

My mom grew up to this song. I'm 40 years old and always loved it when I heard it, but she told me she cries everytime she hears it. One of her best friend's had a sister named Renee who died tragically in a house fire when she was 12 along with her grandmother. RIP Renee

[josephdilorenzo]

I had a close friend by the name of Renee
She rescued many cats and stray dogs. A BMW killed her on the road one Sunday early morning at around 8 am as she was walking her two dogs in centereach, long island. This was about 20 years ago. I associate this song with her. May she rest in peace!

[MsAppassionata]

This song still touches my heart and almost brings me to tears. Ah... The power of music!