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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

News Happy Birthday: Patty Donahue of the Waitresses

Posted by Derek Erdman on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 10:27 AM

Patricia J. "Patty" Donahue would have been 55 today had she not tragically died of lung cancer at the age of 40 in 1996. Patty was the singer of the Akron, Ohio band the Waitresses, best known for their regional hit "I Know What Boys Like" and the holiday classic "Christmas Wrapping". They also recorded the theme song for the television show Square Pegs, ~~though it didn't feature any vocals~~ (no, it did!). The Waitresses had a number of other members who had long careers in music; Billy Ficca who played drums in Television, Chris Butler who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest pop song recording in history and Tom Waits sideman Ralph Carney.

The first Waitresses record, Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? was originally released in 1982 on the mostly no wave label, ZE Records. It features a ton of great skronky tracks, such as "Pussy Strut" and "Jimmy Tomorrow". There's a heap of videos after the jump.

Patty left the Waitresses in 1984 and later worked in the A&R department for MCA. She also contributed vocals to the 1982 Alice Cooper LP Zipper Catches Skin. If you ever find yourself in Cleveland, Ohio you can visit her grave in the suburb of Brook Park at the Holy Cross Cemetery.

Patty was known as a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, which probably contributed to her death. Don't smoke cigarettes. It's gross.

Pre-Donahue Waitresses from 1978:

Comments (8) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Wow, I love them and I've never seen some of these videos. Thanks!

Posted by very bad homo on March 29, 2011 at 11:47 AM

The Square Pegs themesong had lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj88uuoO…

Posted by lady librarian on March 29, 2011 at 12:07 PM

Hey, you're right! I had never heard it before. Now I'm going to listen to it 30 times.

Posted by derek_erdman

on March 29, 2011 at 12:23 PM

Skronky is an excellent descriptor.

Posted by Strath

on March 29, 2011 at 1:53 PM

Saw these guys at the old 9:30 in DC in the summer of '83 or '84 (yep, I'm ancient). Chris Stamey opened. Great band, and Patty was SO sexy...

Posted by HomeDog on March 29, 2011 at 5:42 PM

Saw them at The Union at U of M in Ann Arbor, 1983? She actually stole all of my cigarettes...and because the band was 3 hours late appearing, I couldn't find any place to buy some more. This was back before 24 hours everything.

Posted by Tess on April 21, 2011 at 12:20 PM

Patty's a great singer with something to say. There's a whole lot more to The Waitresses than "I Know What Boys Like" and "Square Pegs," and three cheers for Billy Ficca, Ralph Carney and especially Chris Butler. When I found this site a line from "Bruiseiology" came to mind: "I cant deny it, I've been wanting this all my life."

Posted by Rebel Ed on July 30, 2011 at 2:50 AM

Patty Donhaue actually had something to say. There is a lot more from The Waitresses than "I Know What Boys Like" and "Square Pegs," and it's all worth listening to. Three cheers for Billy Ficca, Rralph Carney, Mars Williams and especially Chris Butler who founded the whole shebang. When I found this site a line from "Bruiseiology" came to mind: "I can't deny it, I've been wanting this all my life."

Posted by Rebel Ed on July 30, 2011 at 4:01 AM