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)

Jonas Pap
Mark Lanegan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Where is the sound I was hearing in my head?
Where is the wine?
Gone to my head

Hey now everybody listen
Everybody listen to the song of pap

Jonas pap, Jonas pap

Sloppy with his drink
In his Christmas cap
He ain’t no sucker
He ain’t no sap
Everybody sing the song of pap

Jonas pap is a man
He’s a brave man
Jonas pap is a man
He’s a brave man

Where is the song I was hearing in my head?
Where is the wine?
Gone to my head

Hey now everybody listen
Everybody listen to the song of pap
Hey now everybody listen
Everybody listen to the song of pap

Jonas pap, Jonas pap
Sloppy with his drink
In his Christmas cap
He ain’t no sucker
He ain’t no sap
Everybody sing the song of pap

Jonas pap is a man
He’s a brave man
Jonas pap is a man
He’s a brave man

Hey now everybody listen
Everybody listen to the song of pap

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Mark Lanegan's song Jonas Pap seem to describe a desire for escape through alcohol and music. The opening lines, "Where is the sound I was hearing in my head? Where is the wine? Gone to my head," suggest a longing for a certain feeling or state of mind that can be achieved through alcohol, which seems to have already taken hold of the singer. The repetition of the phrase "gone to my head" emphasizes this sense of surrender to the intoxicating effect of the wine.

The following lines, "Hey now everybody listen, everybody listen to the song of pap," introduce us to Jonas Pap, who is described as "sloppy with his drink/in his Christmas cap." Pap is presented as a sort of charismatic figure who is not easily taken advantage of, as he "ain't no sucker, he ain't no sap." The invitation to "sing the song of pap" suggests that the singer sees the act of singing and being taken in by the song as a means of escape, which is also hinted at in the repeated question "Where is the song I was hearing in my head?"

In short, Jonas Pap seems to represent an escape from reality, a way to forget one's troubles through alcohol and music. The song invites the listener to join in this escape and to find solace in the world of Jonas Pap.

Line by Line Meaning

Where is the sound I was hearing in my head?
I can't seem to find the music that I was imagining in my thoughts.

Where is the wine?
I am wondering where my drink has gone.

Gone to my head
I have had too much to drink and it's affecting my thinking.

Hey now everybody listen
Listen closely, everyone.

Everybody listen to the song of pap
Pay attention to Jonas Pap's song.

Jonas pap, Jonas pap
Let me introduce Jonas Pap.

Sloppy with his drink
Jonas Pap is drunk and clumsy.

In his Christmas cap
Despite his drunken state, Jonas Pap still manages to wear his holiday hat.

He ain’t no sucker
Jonas Pap is no fool.

He ain’t no sap
He is not gullible or easily fooled.

Everybody sing the song of pap
Join me in singing Jonas Pap's song.