After arriving in New York City at the age of 16, she worked as a bar maid and go-go dancer at the Baby Doll Lounge on White street in Tribeca. Lydia met Alan Vega (who became her first friend in NYC) and Willy DeVille (who gave her the name 'Lunch' because she'd often been stealing lunch for The Dead Boys). Then she moved in for about a year with then-boyfriend James Chance (born James Siegfried) who had come to New York (from Milwaukee) in the last week of 1975. They lived at a funky two-room fifth-floor walk-up apartment on East 2nd street (between Avenue A and B) and at a tiny storefront on Twelfth street.
Lunch moved into a large communal household of artists and musicians in NYC, including Kitty Bruce, daughter of Lenny Bruce. After befriending the 'godfathers of punk' Suicide at Max's Kansas City, she founded the short-lived but influential No Wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks in 1976 with her artistic partner, James Chance. Both appeared on the seminal No Wave compilation No New York. Lunch later appeared on two songs on Chance's album Off White (credited to James White and the Blacks; Lunch used the pseudonym "Stella Rico") in 1978.
She appeared in two films directed by the husband and wife film-making team of Scott B and Beth B; In the short film Black Box (1978) she played an unnamed torturer, and in the feature length, neo-noir thriller Vortex (1982) she played a private detective named "Angel Powers". During this time, she also appeared in a number of films by Vivienne Dick, including She Had her Gun All Ready (1978) and Beauty Becomes The Beast (1979), co starring with Pat Place.
In the mid-'80s she formed her own recording and publishing company called "Widowspeak" on which she continued to release a slew of her own material, including songs and spoken word.
A self-avowed "confrontationalist", identified by the Boston Phoenix as "one of the 10 most influential performers of the '90s", Lunch's solo career featured collaborations with musicians such as J. G. Thirlwell, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Nick Cave, Billy Ver Plank, Steven Severin, Robert Quine, Sadie Mae, Rowland S. Howard, Michael Gira, The Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, Die Haut and Black Sun Productions. She also acted in, wrote, and directed underground films, sometimes collaborating with underground filmmaker and musician Richard Kern (including several films, such as Fingered, in which she performed unsimulated sex acts), and more recently has recorded and performed as a spoken word artist, collaborating with such artists as Exene Cervenka, Henry Rollins, Don Bajema, Hubert Selby Jr., and Emilio Cubeiro, as well as authoring both traditional books and comix (with award-winning graphic novel artist Ted McKeever).
Simon Reynolds (author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984) wrote: "And although 'affection' is possibly an odd word to use in reference to a bunch of nihilists, I do feel fond of the No Wave people. ... there are great moments throughout Lydia Lunch's long discography." Selected quotations:
I'm nihilistic, antagonistic, violent, horrible - but not obliterated, yet.
I would be humiliated if I found out that anything I did actually became a commercial success.
There’re enough happy assholes out there, why should I be another one in the line...
It seems to me, that for over two thousand years now; mad-men, maniacs, and would be messiahs have been pilfering, have been pillaging, have been plundering, and have been raping the entire planet; and the way I see it, Mother Nature is getting pretty pissed off.
No pornography exploits women. It exploits men. It’s the men that are made to look stupid, silly and ridiculous, chasing after the golden elixir. Women look beautiful, do what they wanna do and get paid for it.
The only way to define the art of Lydia Lunch is simply not to.
I Wish
Lydia Lunch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With silent incantations I pray.
Defile this slopside beside all the rest.
Tie me to a tree I bet you don't
I wish I would, I wish I wish I wish I wish you would.
I couldn't turn tomb after tomb in this graveyard of broken hearts,
But bury the grudgers the backyard lies in wait, I did a couple of really awful things.
The lyrics to Lydia Lunch's "I Wish" contain a lot of violent and dark imagery, which adds to the overall feeling of the song. The first line, "With knees that crush the deafened stones," may refer to someone who is so strong that they could break even the toughest of surfaces. This could be seen as a metaphor for the singer's own strength, which they will need in order to achieve their desires. The line "With silent incantations I pray" suggests that the singer is invoking some kind of mystical power in order to make their wish come true.
The second line, "Defile this slopside beside all the rest," is somewhat difficult to interpret. It could be a reference to a specific location or event, or it could be a more general statement about the singer's desire to disrupt or desecrate something. The line "Tie me to a tree I bet you don't" is quite confrontational, and suggests that the singer is daring someone to try and control them. This reinforces the idea that they are a strong, independent individual who won't be easily dominated.
The chorus of the song is the repeated phrase "I wish I would, I wish I wish I wish I wish you would." This could be interpreted in a few different ways, but it seems to be a plea for someone else to take action. The following lines, "I couldn't turn tomb after tomb in this graveyard of broken hearts, / But bury the grudgers the backyard lies in wait, I did a couple of really awful things. / I did I did I did I did I did come undone," suggest that the singer has experienced a lot of pain and heartbreak, and perhaps they are asking someone else to help them overcome these difficult emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
With knees that crush the deafened stones
My determination is so strong that even the ground beneath me shakes.
With silent incantations I pray.
I am using my power and magic to ask for what I want.
Defile this slopside beside all the rest.
Destroy this place that is nothing special, just like all the others.
Tie me to a tree I bet you don't
I am daring you to do something, but I am confident you won't.
I wish I would, I wish I wish I wish I wish you would.
I want you to take action, do something, and make a change.
I couldn't turn tomb after tomb in this graveyard of broken hearts,
I am tired of experiencing heartbreak and disappointment in my relationships.
But bury the grudgers the backyard lies in wait, I did a couple of really awful things.
I regret hurting others and want to move on from those mistakes, but there are still people holding grudges against me.
I did I did I did I did I did come undone.
I have experienced a breakdown or moment of weakness, where I lost control of my emotions.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: LYDIA LUNCH, THURSTON MOORE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind