West Coast 65 yr old white kid here, I just can't imagine how empty the 60s-70s would have been without Motown and the Four Tops. Music that will be studied 1000 yrs from today. RIP Duke
@@rickarnold6825 Thank You so much. The music from Motown echoed through my home growing up. It bought unity in my high school during segregation in the 60s. The school administration was smart enough to sponsor dances monthly. We danced together and made lifelong friends. My youngest sister Renee loved this song. She was the family darling. Hold your loved ones close, we are only here a short while. God Bless Rick.
@@rickarnold6825 Thank You so much. The music from Motown echoed through my home growing up. It bought unity in my high school during segregation in the 60s. The school administration was smart enough to sponsor dances monthly. We danced together and made lifelong friends. My youngest sister Renee loved this song. She was the family darling. Hold your loved ones close, we are only here a short while. God Bless Rick.
They were such a great group, and Levi Stubbs was such a great lead singer. He could have definitely achieved more fame and fortunr by going solo, but he stayed loyal to the Four Tops, and to Detroit.
Saw them live in London in the late 70s with a big orchestra. They sounded exactly like the records. Superb singers - was there ever a better vocalist than Levi - singing remarkable songs. A wonderful evening.
He not only stayed with as part of the group,but also flatly refused seperate billing ie as Levi Stubbs and the etc etc unlike many groups particularly Motown acts of the time,all out of loyalty to his fellow group members which he was happy just to be part of, Total Respect for him.
I grew up Scottish, was a Bowie fan but The Four Tops were (and still are) my favourite Motown band ever. God bless you Duke, it can't have been easy being the lone survivor. My heart goes out to your family.
I was in high school when this came out.Some of us walked around singing it for weeks not even knowing that it was a cover.When I grew older, I listened to the original. I was not moved.I am now 71 and this rendition still haunts me.Wonderful,Wonderful, Wonderful ❤
As part of my job for an entertainment publication I got to interview many of the members of Motown groups and other black recording artists. Alll of them lamented the rise of rap and demise of an avenue for talented black vocalists to get their voices heard. It's everybody's loss.
Original song by the "The Left Bank" of the 60s from NYC. The Four Tops make the song their own with their distinctive voices they nail it spot on and make it better. Pure voices and orchestration.
I ran into a checker at my grocery store the other day and I asked if she knew there was a song about her! She was shocked and said, "There is no song with my name in it!?" So I sang a few bars and she was so overcome with joy, she came from around the check stand and asked if she could give me a hug? And me being me, I said, but only if I can keep singing!? After she hugged me, she said can I give you a kiss on the cheek. 😘 That's when I was shocked! So she did! She then told me, she NEVER had ANYONE sing to her and definitely not a song with her name in it before . . . and that's why we need OLD people! #UNBELIEVEABLE #forher #andforme
Hearing about Duke dying brought me back to this song, literally has been in repeat all day. The Four Tops hands my favorite Motown group, Levi Stubbs my favorite male singer. My name isn’t Renee but this song always, always makes me cry. Their voices, the emotion brings back so many memories. They are all together again, Rest In Eternal Peace Gentlemen, you are loved and missed.
@@tfer1977 I knew it! So am I and so was Levi. We're both 06/06 and you named my two most favourite songs by them, and featuring Levi, it would be, Climb Every Mountain. ♊ 💕 🌹 ✨
@@Me-je2uw White Plains New York was the County Seat for what was the wealthiest piece of real-estate in the world (at that time.) There were good and bad sides to that.
I'm not gonna lie, I've been pretty depressed since Duke Fakir passed away. I love The Four Tops and losing Duke feels like a chapter of time just got slammed shut. I'll always look back fondly on the memories of listening to The Four Tops dancing with my first baby in the kitchen in the morning when we were living in Detroit. RIP to The Four Tops.
No words can describe how Levi's voice makes me feel.....makes me breathless . It had such an effect on me as as a kid of 13 and now at 68 years old still the same.
I'm here because I heard of the death of Abdul Fakir whilst listening to Boom radio earlier in the day. It must have been difficult for him to witness the passing of each bandmate, leaving him as the sole remaining member of a quartet that had performed and stayed loyal to each other for many decades. R.I.P. Duke.
This is probably my favourite ever Four Tops song, just so haunting and sung by a music superstar with a fantastic voice - if only you could go back in time and enjoy this music when it first happened.
Yes you are correct. I find it a compliment to this wonderful song that both of them put out such a soulful rendition . I have surfed "Renee" and listened to many more renditions also. Peace...@@cirrus1964
Four Tops "Walk Away Renee" Levi Stubbs was the lead singer of the Rhythm & Blues, Soul-Rock group The Four Tops, a hugely successful group on The Motown record label in the 60s and early 70s. Levi Stubs had a pleasing, slightly raspy-baritone voice emulated and revered by many current singers. He was renowned for his voice. I think The Four Tops really did a great R&B justice on this song and made it one of their signature tunes reaching #14 on "The Billboard Hot 100" in 1968. I like it better than the original by The Left Banke reaching #5, Sept 24, 1966. This plaintive love song was written by the 16 year old drummer for the band. Levi Stubbs was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and after suffering a stroke in 2000, he was no longer able to tour. (Wiki) He died in his sleep on October 17, 2008, at his home in Detroit. A memorial service for Stubbs was held at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on October 27. "The Four Tops - Walk Away Renee", Fave to this day!
Can remember seeing the various Motown bands on Top of the Pops, but none had the style, the class, the voices that The Four Tops had. A part of my childhood and now the last one, Duke, has gone😢
If only there was just ONE group today of the same caliber as The Four Tops! Who could even come close to their impeccable musical style?!! So glad I can still enjoy their songs today!!
@@KhanflomahInstrumentals Was it? The four tops and Johnny Rivers had big hits of the same song, ‘ Baby, I need your lovin.’ There was nothing racist about enjoying, both. The left Bank and the Four tops also had wonderful versions of ‘just walk away Renee.’ The Four tops were Great. The music hits were abundant in that time, before todays woke see everything through a tunnel vision; thanks to the foreigner and Mike.
Duke's dad was from Pakistan. He also dated Mary Wilson. You can imagine how Berry Gordy must feel. So many of his artists died at young ages, but he lived to be in his 90's. What a legacy he created!
The Left Banke’s original take was marvelous, but leave it to the 4 Tops for making that song in question “Walk Away Renée even the more fabulous. So if there was a place for more than just one musical singing groups, both (The Left Banke and The Four Tops) will always & forever be THE G. O. A. T. ‘S of popular music. And if you can wonder what G. O. A. T. stands for, THEY’RE THE GREATEST
I guess I know what the rest stand for THEY’RE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME….. NUFF SAID PUFF!!!! Thanx 4 Givin’ Me an added chance to complete my verbal tribute to both legendary successful popular musical groups that never sang those classics very much the more classical. They were masters n da business!!! BAR NONE.
🥲Makes me tear up for long-lost days of happiness, safety, just all-around better times. Only rarely was there something bad on the news .... Not everyday like now. I long for my school days of the 1960's. This was one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite groups! The Four Tops!! Well done gentlemen!
You wrote the words & the emotions from my heart. How I often think & long for yesteryear. I have shed many tears whilst listening to The Four Tops & their counterparts. There will never be another era like the '60s.
Michael Brown has stated that the song is one of a number he wrote about Renée Fladen, the then-girlfriend of the Left Banke's bassist Tom Finn and object of Brown's affection. She was associated with the band for a few weeks, and was described as a free-spirited and tall blonde.
"Your name and mine inside a heart upon a wall Still finds a way to haunt me, though they're so small" That lyric just tears me up, don't know why, but it does. My favorite of all the great Four Tops recordings
I know what you mean!!! I feel exactly the same way "The empty sidewalk on my block is not the same." It just makes me think about being a kid in the neighborhood. At that age, you never imagine your friends going in different directions, moving away, or just growing up and moving on. The way the Tops sing this song just hits my heart and makes me think of a time that has a different color in my memory.
I was 12 years old and later were totally in Rock, but Soul music was great and even I loved all songs by the Four Tops, my no 1 song of all was "Walk away Renee", always got goose bumps when listening to this so lovely song and the a bit sad lyrics.
The FOUR TOPS, one of my favorite groups with the great lead vocals of Levi Stubbs. Three of the Four (Obi, Lawerence, Levi) have since passed bringing sadness to the music world. May they Rest In Peace and thank Duke for carrying the torch. Just finished reading the recent book by Duke Fakir and it is a great read, could not put it down.
When I was 15 or 16 years old, (1969/70/71? ), I saw The Four Tops at The Dome in Brighton. (Labi Saffri.. (It Must Be Love)... was their support act.) They played the first couple of bars of Walk Away Renee and the the guys walked on to the stage in single file singing. The place erupted!!! The audience went wild. And a lot of people rushed down to the stage. I was nearer the back and wanted to watch them. I ended up dancing in the aisle near my seat. I used to love the Northern Soul style of dancing. Fantastic!!!! I returned to The Dome a while later to watch the Supremes (post the Diana Rigg split) and "Up the Ladder to the Roof etc". The Dome had put up huge posters on the side of the stage to say that anyone dancing in the aisles or in front of the stage (as per 4 Tops) would be thrown out. I think the posh seats didn't like it. Thank you Four Tops for such memories and Motown for the beautiful revolution that you were.
All four of you will be truly missed. I really loved the songs that were put out by Motown's best group. If we listen closely we can hear you guys tearing it up. RIP ALL 4
Amen. No gimmicks, no autotune or digital production, no cool thugs posing as superstars... how lucky we were, all the music back then, genuine and exuberant.
I put the heart on a tree before having to writing it on a wall... She'd cut the tree down....🙄 Kinda missed her point by that gesture. Well, its been 40 years now Still hopin'😞
actually it's about unrequited love... written by a 16 year old about a bandmate's then girlfriend... renee fladden. she was also the inspiration for the band's single Pretty Ballerina . The 4 tops make the song smooth... but the Left Banke's vocalist conveys the teenage angst of the lyrics better.
Today's so called "artists" rely on auto tune, fake images and machines is why.The music industry consumed itself and now worse we have useless "djs" as entertainment, ha, no way man. We're doomed.
I’m 30 years old my mother introduced me to the 60 70 80 music I love them more so is my young kids I don’t let them listen to rap naked lady only classic lady
Love these guys and as much as I love this song..indestructible one of my fav songs of all time saw them perform it live these guys were amazing,they were indestructible that’s why they lasted as long as they did,together as one
Tops are so cool! The song was already a hit by left bank but the tops showed they could deal with it and they did it’s beautiful👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👀💕💕💕💕🍹🍹👀👌
I can't believe there are other people who sing some of the four tops songs. I wouldn't even listen to them. No one could have sounded as good as these guys. They were my favorite Motown!
There are few truly deserving the label of "incomparable," but Levi Stubbs fully earned such praise. So much nuance and emotional depth, in under three minute songs, carrying through the static, am signal through the cheap cardboard car speaker, to still make us cry back then. He was so fortunate, and rewarded, to have a career renaissance that brought his name to the forefront, serendipitously, as the voice of Audrey the alien carnivorous plant, in Little Shop of Horrors, the movie, which underappreciated his comedic skills and flair for the unrestrained scene stealing.
