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.
Sway
Lydia Lunch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Show me
Loosen it up
Let it flower
Tickle it a little
Against yourself
I would love to
Blessing you with lip smacking
Tongue lashing urgency
A baptismal if succulent caresses
And heavenly aromas
Feast upon these otherworldly delicacies
Delight in the fragrant and intoxicating
Magnificence of a well fucked soft white underbelly
Feel it, feel it, create supernaturel sensations
Allow yourself to
Erupt in an ever expanding
Pandemonium
Of inner conniptions
A glorius explosion of
Nocturnal emmissions
Show me, show me, show me...
The lyrics to Lydia Lunch's song "Sway" are a powerful mix of sensuality and urgency. The lyrics encourage letting go of inhibitions and fully embracing physical sensation. The repeated phrases of "Show me" create a sense of demand, as if the singer is commanding their partner to reveal themselves more fully.
The lines "Loosen it up, let it flower, tickle it a little against yourself" suggest a desire for exploration, for the singer's partner to become more comfortable and open to their own desires. The language of "blessing" and "heavenly aromas" creates a sense of sacredness around these intimate moments. The imagery of "feasting" and "delighting" adds to the sensual tone.
The repeated exhortation to "show me" and the buildup of sensual imagery lead to the explosive final lines: "Allow yourself to erupt in an ever expanding pandemonium of inner conniptions, a glorious explosion of nocturnal emissions." Here, the language becomes more raw and untamed, emphasizing the release of pent-up desires.
Line by Line Meaning
Show me
I want you to reveal yourself to me
Show me
I want you to reveal even more of yourself to me
Loosen it up
Relax and let your inhibitions go
Let it flower
Let your passion and desire grow and blossom
Tickle it a little
Tease and tantalize your senses
Against yourself
Indulge in self-pleasure and explore your own body
I would love to
I desire to do this with you
Reach over and touch you
I want to physically connect with you
Blessing you with lip smacking
I want to give you pleasure through kissing
Tongue lashing urgency
I want to passionately use my tongue to make you feel good
A baptismal of succulent caresses
I want to shower you with sensual touches
And heavenly aromas
I want to create a sensory experience that is divine
Feast upon these otherworldly delicacies
Enjoy the incredible pleasure that these experiences can bring
Delight in the fragrant and intoxicating
Experience the incredible sensory overload of this pleasure
Magnificence of a well fucked soft white underbelly
The pleasure of exploring and indulging in sexual desire
Feel it, feel it, create supernaturel sensations
Allow yourself to fully embrace these experiences and create something beyond the physical
Allow yourself to
Let yourself experience the full extent of this pleasure
Erupt in an ever expanding
Experience pleasure that grows and expands
Pandemonium
An intense state of chaos and excitement
Of inner conniptions
A feeling of confusion and disorientation from pleasure
A glorius explosion of
An amazing experience of pleasure
Nocturnal emmissions
Sexual release during sleep
Show me, show me, show me...
I want to experience this incredible pleasure with you again and again
Contributed by Ryan L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@archenema6792
The first time I heard one of her songs was on the flip side of The Birthday Party's "Drunk On The Pope's Blood, and I've been hooked ever since. Man, I wish I still had that EP.
@MO-ws2tn
The Agony is the Ecstasy. it was on the 4AD label too. odd. love that too. the lyric that stands out is "Kiss of death from the boy of my dreams"
@johnmfcasey
beautiful and spooky!
@fearlessskrull8286
I love this song.
@concalo
so excellent, love the piano.
@mUbase
oooooh nice. thnx xxxxxx.
@corinnep142
OUI ! OUI ! MAGNIFIQUE !
@AndreaFontalvo
Wow... wow.
@sergesanch755
thanks for this !
@raggedlionpress2024
heavenly