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)
Nocturne
Mark Lanegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
X-ray vision
That lowly drug is in my veins
Blood stained
Indecision
And holiness is burned away
Midnight, midnight calling
To color me insane
Still life with roses in a vase
Thorn is in your hand
Unsent letters in a box
Frozen where you stand
Do you miss me, miss me, darling?
God knows, I′m missing you
Somewhere there's two trains colliding
That′s what this sickness brought me to
Dead right
All night
When you feel the serpent strike
Nocturne
Blacklight
House of mirrors
The heavens open up and bleed
Face down
Drifting backwards
A lonely river to the sea
Midnight, midnight calling
Coloring my dreams
Anchor chained around your neck
Christ is in your hands
Whispering behind your back
Falling where you stand
Do you miss me, miss me, darling?
God knows I'm missing you
I can see two cars colliding
That's what this sickness brought me to
Do you miss me, miss me, darling?
Do you know I′m missing you
Can′t you see the world is ending
That's what this damage took me to
Dead right
All night
When you feel the spider bite
Nocturne
Nocturne
Do you miss me, miss me, darling?
God knows I′m missing you
I can see two worlds colliding
That's what the sickness brought me to
Dead right
All night
When you feel the serpent strike
Nocturne
Nocturne
Nocturne
The song "Nocturne" by Mark Lanegan is a haunting and introspective exploration of addiction, isolation, and a longing for connection with a loved one who is no longer present. The verses are filled with vivid and often unsettling imagery, drawing the listener into the dark and troubled inner world of the singer. The opening lines speak of "red lights" and "x-ray vision," suggesting a sense of hyper-awareness and heightened perception that comes with drug use. The lyrics are ambiguous, leaving it up to the listener to interpret whether the drug in question is a source of pleasure or pain, and whether it is a symptom of the singer's troubles, or a form of self-medication.
The chorus is a repeated plea to a lost love, asking if they miss the singer as much as he misses them. The language is simple and direct, contrasting with the surreal and symbolic imagery of the verses. The repeated lines "Do you miss me, miss me, darling?" and "God knows I'm missing you" suggest a desperate and intense longing for connection, even as the singer recognizes the futility of his search.
The final lines of the song bring together the different threads of imagery and theme, linking the "two trains colliding," "serpent strike," and "world-ending" damage to the central metaphor of the "nocturne" - a night piece of music that is often associated with sadness or melancholy. The repeated refrain of "Dead right, all night" echoes this sense of inevitability and resignation, as the singer recognizes that he is trapped in a cycle of self-destructive behavior that he cannot escape.
Line by Line Meaning
Red lights
The atmosphere around me is overwhelming and suffocating
X-ray vision
I am seeing through my physical reality to a darker, more ominous world beneath the surface
That lowly drug is in my veins
I am consumed by a destructive addiction that I cannot shake
Blood stained
My demons and vices have caused irreparable damage to my soul
Indecision
I am paralyzed by fear and cannot make decisive choices for myself
And holiness is burned away
In the face of my addiction and fear, any goodness or purity within me has been destroyed or corrupted
Midnight, midnight calling
The intense isolation and darkness of the night are calling out to me, beckoning me towards my own destruction
To color me insane
The night and my demons are utterly overwhelming me, and I am being driven to madness and insanity
Still life with roses in a vase
Despite the stagnant and unchanging nature of my surroundings, there is an ominous and painful presence
Thorn is in your hand
You are in pain, and that pain is manifesting through me, infecting me with a sense of guilt and sorrow
Unsent letters in a box
There are things we need to say to each other, but we are unable to communicate
Frozen where you stand
We are both frozen in place and unable to move forward or move past our own demons and flaws
Do you miss me, miss me, darling?
I ache for your presence and your love, even as I know I am too broken to truly be worthy of it
God knows, I'm missing you
I am consumed by a sense of longing and loss for you, even as I am struggling to overcome my own demons
Somewhere there's two trains colliding
Our lives are on a collision course, and I cannot shake the sense of doomed inevitability that hangs over our relationship
That's what this sickness brought me to
This darkness and sorrow has consumed me completely and is driving me towards my own destruction
Dead right
My path is set and I am beyond redemption
All night
I am trapped in this darkness and there is no escape
When you feel the serpent strike
The poison of my addiction is consuming me and I am powerless to resist it
Nocturne
This darkness and sorrow is a lullaby that is singing me towards my own destruction
Blacklight
The world is painted in a sickly, otherworldly glow
House of mirrors
Everywhere I look, I am confronted with images of myself and my flaws
The heavens open up and bleed
Even the divine is suffering and writhing in pain, unable to offer any solace or salvation
Face down
I am drowning in this sorrow and unable to lift my head and face my demons
Drifting backwards
I am slipping further and further away from reality, lost in this darkness and pain
A lonely river to the sea
I am adrift on this current of pain and sorrow, heading towards a fate that cannot be escaped
Midnight, midnight calling
The darkness and sorrow of the night are all-consuming, and I am unable to resist their siren call
Coloring my dreams
Even in my most private moments, the darkness and pain are infecting every part of me
Anchor chained around your neck
You are weighed down by your own demons and flaws, and I am powerless to help you overcome them
Christ is in your hands
You believe in a higher power and a sense of divine grace, but my own darkness and pain is separating me from that same light
Whispering behind your back
My own sorrows and vices are infecting others around me, even as I struggle to overcome them
Falling where you stand
We are both falling apart and succumbing to our own vices and flaws, unable to help each other in any meaningful way
Can't you see the world is ending
The sense of doom and destruction is all-encompassing, and it feels as though the world itself is coming to an end
That's what this damage took me to
The pain and darkness has consumed me completely, and I am powerless to resist it
Nocturne
This lullaby of darkness and sorrow is all-encompassing, and there is no escape
Writer(s): Mark William Lanegan, Robert Ernest Marshall
Contributed by Jacob M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.