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)
St. Louis Elegy
Mark Lanegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I see an airplane as it flies
Is this the way they said Jesus came?
Gone through St Louis
Gone straightaway
And I hear the winter will cut you quick
If tears were liquor I'd have drunk myself sick
A house of cards, a frame of bones
Here I am earthly bound
Said hallelujah I'm going down
And the river Jordan is deep and wide
I think I see forever across on the other side
I look at the sky
I see a night bird as it flies
Over the old bent cherry trees
Shivering in a row
Down here the winter will cut you quick
These tears are liquor and I’ve drunk myself sick
And the dead of winter will cut you quick
These tears are liquor and I've drunk myself sick
Mark Lanegan's song St. Louis Elegy is a contemplative ballad about life and death, with a melancholic tone that lures the listener into reflection. It opens with the lines "I look at the sky, I see an airplane as it flies, Is this the way they said Jesus came? Gone through St Louis, gone straightaway." In these lines, the singer wonders about the nature of life and death, inspired by the sight of an airplane in the sky. He then references Jesus' arrival in St Louis, highlighting the possibility that life goes on after death.
Lanegan proceeds to reflect on the frailty of the human body and our ultimate vulnerability. "A house of cards, a frame of bones, here I am earthly bound, said hallelujah I'm going down, and the river Jordan is deep and wide. I think I see forever across on the other side." He then goes on to muses about his emotional state, revealing that he drinks from sadness like a drink, as "If tears were liquor I'd have drunk myself sick."
Line by Line Meaning
I look at the sky
The singer looks up at the sky, observing his surroundings
I see an airplane as it flies
He sees an airplane in the sky
Is this the way they said Jesus came?
The singer compares the sight of the airplane to the biblical story of Jesus' arrival
Gone through St Louis
The plane has flown over the city of St. Louis
Gone straightaway
The plane has continued on its path, without stopping
And I hear the winter will cut you quick
The singer has heard that the winter in this area is harsh and unforgiving
If tears were liquor I'd have drunk myself sick
The singer is feeling sad and overwhelmed, stating that if tears were alcohol, he would have drunk himself into a stupor
Woman are you home?
The singer is calling out to a woman, asking if she is home
A house of cards, a frame of bones
The woman's home is fragile and delicate, like a house of cards, and she herself is frail and fragile, like a frame of bones
Here I am earthly bound
The singer is stuck in this physical world, unable to transcend it
Said hallelujah I'm going down
Despite his sadness, the singer says 'hallelujah' and seems to have accepted a downward spiral
And the river Jordan is deep and wide
The singer alludes to the biblical River Jordan being vast and difficult to cross, suggesting he is in a difficult place
I think I see forever across on the other side
Despite the struggle, the singer sees hope and eternity on the other side of his struggles
I look at the sky
The singer once again looks up at the sky
I see a night bird as it flies
He sees a nocturnal bird taking flight
Over the old bent cherry trees
The bird is flying above gnarled and crooked cherry trees
Shivering in a row
The trees appear to be shaking or shivering
Down here the winter will cut you quick
The singer reiterates the harshness of the winter climate in this area
These tears are liquor and I’ve drunk myself sick
Again, the singer is feeling very sad and tears are flowing like alcohol
And the dead of winter will cut you quick
The singer repeats his earlier line about how harsh the winter can be in this area
These tears are liquor and I've drunk myself sick
The singer ends the song by repeating his earlier sentiments about being overwhelmed by sadness
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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