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)

Museum
Mark Lanegan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You hear them call your name
From your room
Far removed
Don't let 'em use you in, every way
Stay unchained
Around and round you go
They'll never know, what you've seen
Why have you turned away

You can believe, believe in me
Couldn't you try one time
See if they'll run, for a while
It's a solitary star
Shining precious light
Light on me
When I see your eyes
Tell me what you find
But I oughtta know, by now
Did you hear them call your name
From your room
Far removed
I'd only use you in, every way
Stay unchained
It's a solitary star

Shining precious light
Light on me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Museum by Mark Lanegan describe a situation where someone is being called by an external force that wants to use and manipulate them. The first stanza implies that this voice is calling from a distance, "from your room far removed", which could mean that the singer is physically far from the person they are addressing, or that the influence they are describing comes from a remote and isolated place. The second stanza offers an alternative: "You can believe, believe in me", suggesting that the singer is offering a counterpoint to this negative influence, and that the person being addressed has a choice in who to listen to. The final stanza repeats the first, asking the question "Did you hear them call your name?" and reiterating the importance of staying unchained and free from outside influence.

The lyrics are open to interpretation, but it's possible that they address a theme of addiction, manipulation by outside forces, or simply the struggle to stay true to oneself in the face of external pressures. The repetition of the phrase "stay unchained" suggests a desire for freedom and autonomy, while the "solitary star" could be a symbol for a guiding light or a source of strength and inspiration. Overall, the lyrics to Museum are both haunting and comforting.

Line by Line Meaning

You hear them call your name
You're aware that people are reaching out to you

From your room
Whether you're isolating or not, you can hear them

Far removed
You feel distant from them, like you're in a separate world

Don't let 'em use you in, every way
You don't want to become a tool for them to use however they want

Stay unchained
You don't want to be bound to their expectations

Around and round you go
You feel like you're trapped in a cycle

They'll never know, what you've seen
The people calling your name can't understand what you've experienced

Why have you turned away
They don't know why you're distancing yourself

You can believe, believe in me
I can be a source of faith and trust for you

Couldn't you try one time
Consider reaching out and trying to reconnect with others

See if they'll run, for a while
Test if they'll stick by you and not abandon you again