Small Faces, The – Rene

There she is parading on the quayside

You can find her every night

Ah, waiting for a stevedore from Tyneside –

Why it’s Rene, the docker’s delight!

Well, if you just got off an oil tanker

And you’ve got the readies in the bin (Readies = cash and having them ‘in the bin’ means having money)

Just make your way down to The Crown & Anchor [London pub famous for being a rock music venue through the 60’s and 70’s)

Ask for Rene (ohh, hello ducks!) and you’ll be well in.

She’s Rene, the docker’s delight, and a ship’s in every night

Romping with a stoker from the coast of Kuala Lumpur

Love is like an ‘ole in the wall

A line-up in the warehouse no trouble at all

If you can spare the money, you’ll have a ball –

She’ll have yours (It sounds like ‘she’ll have your oars out’ but it’s just the way he sings ‘yours-a’

Well, there’s a kid of every shape and colour

Safely hid in coal-sheds, double locked (this alludes to black kids by white prostitutes, hidden away)

Where it’s been said that Rene is the mother.

I wonder – well, there you go!

She’s Rene, the docker’s delight, and a ship’s in every night

Groping with a stoker from the coast of Kuala Lumpur