Lanegan began his musical career in 1984 with Screaming Trees, with whom he released seven studio albums and five EPs before their disbandment in 2000. During his time with the band, he also started a solo career and released his first solo studio album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990. He subsequently released a further 10 solo albums, which received critical recognition but only moderate commercial success. Following the end of Screaming Trees, he became a frequent collaborator of Queens of the Stone Age, and was a full-time member between 2001 and 2005 during the Songs for the Deaf and Lullabies to Paralyze eras.
Lanegan collaborated with various artists throughout his career. In the 1990s, he and Kurt Cobain recorded an album of Lead Belly covers that was ultimately never released. He also joined Layne Staley and Mike McCready in the band Mad Season, and formed the alternative rock group The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli in 2003, as well as contributing to releases by Moby, Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers, Tinariwen, The Twilight Singers, Manic Street Preachers, and Unkle, among others.
Lanegan struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout his life, but had been sober for over a decade at the time of his death. Encouraged by his friend Anthony Bourdain, he released the memoir Sing Backwards and Weep in 2020. He followed this up in 2021 with the memoir Devil in a Coma, which focused on his near-death experience with COVID-19. He and his wife Shelley Brien left the U.S. in 2020 and settled in the Irish town of Killarney, where he died two years later at the age of 57. No cause of death was revealed.
Studio albums
The Winding Sheet (1990)
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)
Scraps at Midnight (1998)
I'll Take Care of You (1999)
Field Songs (2001)
Bubblegum (2004)
Blues Funeral (2012)
Imitations (2013)
Phantom Radio (2014)
Gargoyle (2017)
Somebody's Knocking (2019)
Straight Songs of Sorrow (2020)
Elégie Funèbre
Mark Lanegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Laissez venir l'homme à la faux
Et si me coudre les paupières
Au moins ne me riez derrière
Moi.
Laissez me parler à l'oreille
Et faire miel de moi l'abeille
Quand bien même le bateau ivre
Sombre.
Croyez-moi, dans ce monde-ci,
Jamais on ne m'a dit merci.
Où que ce fut, où que ce soit,
Qui que ce fut, qui que ce soit,
S'en fut.
C'est pour ma chair fragile et morte
Que je prie de vous de la sorte
Qu'on ne m'ait pas en terre admis
Sans que l'on y descende aussi...
Que reste ici de mon passé
Dans ce caveau frais repassé
L'habit de noce et le carton
De ma langue et de mon menton
L'os.
L'ongle à peine de désigner
Faisant main comme l'araignée,
Les yeux se taisent et la cornée
Dessous l'arcade cimentée
Pèse.
Couronnez-moi de fleurs mauves
Si voyez que ma vie se sauve
Et des ténèbres ayez raison,
Lirez lumières de l'oraison
Funèbre.
Prenez soin de moi si pouvez,
Faites de vos bouches un ave,
Que Dieu le dépose ou l'apporte
S'il fut seul au pied de ma porte
Close.
Couvrez moi de fleurs s'il le faut.
Couvrez moi de fleurs s'il le faut...
The lyrics of Mark Lanegan's song Elégie Funèbre (Funeral Elegy) convey a request from the singer to be treated with respect and dignity upon their death. The singer asks to be covered in flowers, so that when the grim reaper comes to take them, they may be adorned with beauty. They also ask that if their eyes are sewn shut, no one laughs at them for their appearance. The singer wants to be spoken to softly, like a bee collecting honey, and be allowed to live on in the shadows even after their death. They then reflect on their life, stating that they were never thanked for anything they did and that no one will remember their presence once they are gone. The singer then requests that they not be buried without someone accompanying them to the grave, and to place some of their belongings with them in the coffin, such as their wedding attire and a piece of bone and skin.
Overall, the song is a reflection on mortality and the desire for a peaceful and dignified passing. The singer acknowledges their own fragile and ultimately mortal body, while seeking comfort in the knowledge that they will be surrounded by beauty and respect even in death.
Line by Line Meaning
Couvrez-moi de fleurs s'il le faut.
Cover me with flowers if necessary.
Laissez venir l'homme à la faux
Let the man with the scythe come.
Et si me coudre les paupières
And if you sew my eyelids,
Au moins ne me riez derrière
At least don't laugh behind me,
Moi.
Me.
Laissez me parler à l'oreille
Let me talk in your ear,
Et faire miel de moi l'abeille
And turn me into honey, the bee,
Et dans mon ombre, laissez vivre,
And in my shadow, let live,
Quand bien même le bateau ivre
Even if the drunken boat,
Sombre.
Sinks.
Croyez-moi, dans ce monde-ci,
Believe me, in this world,
Jamais on ne m'a dit merci.
No one has ever thanked me.
Où que ce fut, où que ce soit,
Wherever it was, wherever it is,
Qui que ce fut, qui que ce soit,
Whoever it was, whoever it is,
S'en fut.
They're gone.
C'est pour ma chair fragile et morte
It's for my frail and dead flesh,
Que je prie de vous de la sorte
That I beg of you in this way,
Qu'on ne m'ait pas en terre admis
That I'm not laid in the ground,
Sans que l'on y descende aussi...
Without someone also descending there...
Que reste ici de mon passé
What remains here of my past
Dans ce caveau frais repassé
In this freshly pressed cool grave
L'habit de noce et le carton
The wedding suit and the cardboard
De ma langue et de mon menton
Of my tongue and my chin
L'os.
The bone.
L'ongle à peine de désigner
The nail barely pointing,
Faisant main comme l'araignée,
Hand making like spider,
Les yeux se taisent et la cornée
The eyes are silent and the cornea
Dessous l'arcade cimentée
Under the cemented arch
Pèse.
Weighs.
Couronnez-moi de fleurs mauves
Crown me with purple flowers
Si voyez que ma vie se sauve
If you see that my life is saved
Et des ténèbres ayez raison,
And be right about the darkness,
Lirez lumières de l'oraison
Read the lights of the prayer
Funèbre.
Funereal.
Prenez soin de moi si pouvez,
Take care of me if you can,
Faites de vos bouches un ave,
Make a prayer with your mouths,
Que Dieu le dépose ou l'apporte
That God brings or takes,
S'il fut seul au pied de ma porte
If he was alone at my doorstep,
Close.
Close.
Couvrez moi de fleurs s'il le faut.
Cover me with flowers if necessary.
Couvrez moi de fleurs s'il le faut...
Cover me with flowers if necessary...
Contributed by Carter I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
pimprenelle de nyons
OH oui, quel bel effort de chanter en français. J'adore cet artiste
Jorge L. Rodriguez
WOW! MARK LANEGAN EN FRANCES, ME PREGUNTO COMO SONARIA EN ESPAÑOL O PORTUGUES
moog nico
Rest in peace...
Иван
🆘🌹♥
Georges Vangastel
Paroles de Gérard Manset
Maria Laura Panzeri
Strange kind of French-ish sounds XD at least he tried...but his voice is great anyway
Dee Brooks
Its french. This song has been written by french author and singer Gérard Manset.
Napoleon Wilson
Sounds fine to me,but I lean towards Cajun/Creole style French,so what do I know...
AnnA db
...