Talk about blood, sweat and tears; it feels Maria McKee conveys it all here in voice and sound: ‘then so goodbye to Panic Beach‘. Someone recommended this to me, but I can’t recall whom. This is where the chorus kick’s arse. Give this song time to unfold. It’s a musical – art form made like origami.
Panic Beach appears as the 5th song on Maria McKee’s debut album by American released in 1989. The songwriting was inspired in part by books about the history of vaudeville, as well as by Tennessee Williams plays.
[Verse 1]
Well, the dog act got drunk again last night
The king and queen of the waltz clog team had another fight
The king was careless with his tango grip
Nearly lost his queen in a dip
Yeah, she righted herself
Straightened out her slip and kicked him in the shin
Miss Billy Begonia thinks she’s hit the big time
She wants a thick red rug from the dressing room door
To the front-line of the footlights
She’s got a sky blue swan’s down powder puff
And a corset to keep her spirits up
Yeah, she don’t sweat
She sours and melts like ice cream in the sun
She’ll be out of a job at the end of this three-week run
[Chorus]
We’re having fun out here on Panic Beach
All the vaudeville bums are here out on Panic Beach
I hear them talk about the palace but it’s so far out of reach
So I’ll do my time, then say goodbye to Panic Beach, yeah
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Panic Beach has a bitter-sweet carnival-esque feel to it since it deals with down-and-out vaudeville performers living and working in obscurity. Each word paints a picture. The song abounds with color, characters and melancholy. My favourite lines: ‘she don’t sweat, she sours and melts like ice cream in the sun‘ and “a sky blue swans down powder puff and a corset to keep her spirits up“.
Maria Luisa McKee (born August 17, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice, her 1990 song Show Me Heaven which I’m sure most of the readers here will be familiar and her song If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags) from the film Pulp Fiction.
References:
1. Maria McKee (album) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I’m with the dog lol
She is one of my favorite female voices of the 80s…WAY more than the fake blonde who was popular at the time. I first heard her in the band Lone Justice first. She is great at early country and folk also.
It may well have been you that recommended her although I searched the song in your blog, but couldn’t find it. Apart from those other songs mentioned in the post, I’m not familiar with her music at all. But this song is impressive. Listening to her from way back when she was in Lone Justice must be cool.
Ways to be Wicked and Shelter…are my favorites by them. She has an unusual voice.
That’s a good song Max. Thanks for sharing it. Her voice is unusual – light and tangy hehe
It’s kinda reedy and thin…I like it.