Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an America… Read Full Bio ↴Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. He released 12 solo studio albums, as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood. He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave.

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)

Field Song
Mark Lanegan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Let's walk down to the water
There's hyacinth in bloom
I spend my days
Lovin' you
I left these fields
Because I never knew
To be a horse
To be a train

I wouldn't have the heart
And next to the tracks
You find an apple cart
Maybe we'll stay at home
And be together no more to move alone
Together no more to move alone
See the water It's mixed with light
For you I've been shaken

Regarding the fields
Humbly mistaken

Overall Meaning

In Mark Lanegan's song Field Song, the singer seems to be talking about leaving their old life behind and starting anew with someone they love. They suggest walking down to the water where they see hyacinth in bloom, emphasizing the beauty and new beginning that can be found in nature. The singer confesses they left their old life behind because they didn't know how to be "a horse" or "a train," possibly implying that they couldn't keep up with the constant movement and change of their old life. Next to the tracks, they find an apple cart, a symbol of something simple and grounded that they may have overlooked in their old life, further emphasizing their desire for a simpler life with their loved one.

The singer then suggestively proposes staying at home together, no longer needing to move alone. They appreciate the beauty of the water, noticing how it's mixed with light, a nod to the way their love has shaken up their world and brought new light into it. The last line, "Regarding the fields, Humbly mistaken," suggests they may have thought their old life was fulfilling, represented by the fields, but now realize they were wrong and perhaps too proud to admit it before.

Line by Line Meaning

Let's walk down to the water
Let's go down to the water.

There's hyacinth in bloom
The hyacinths are currently blooming.

I spend my days Lovin' you
I spend my days loving you.

I left these fields Because I never knew To be a horse To be a train I wouldn't have the heart And next to the tracks You find an apple cart
I left the fields because I didn't know how to be a horse or train, and I couldn't bear to be next to the tracks where there is an apple cart.

Maybe we'll stay at home And be together no more to move alone Together no more to move alone
Maybe we'll stay home and be together, no longer alone and moving around.

See the water It's mixed with light For you I've been shaken Regarding the fields Humbly mistaken
The water is a mixture of light, and for you, I've been impacted. And as for the fields, I'm humbly mistaken.

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MARK LANEGAN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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