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)
Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Mark Lanegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
I would shiver all night through
Her husband was a hard-workin' man
His head was found in a driver well
And his body never was found
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
I would shiver all night through
(Shiver for me now)
My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm goin' where the cold winds blow
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver all night through
[Chorus: x2]
The lyrics of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Mark Lanegan speak about a man who asks his girlfriend where she spent the previous night. He suspects that she might have cheated on him, hence the repeated plea, "My girl, my girl, don't lie to me, tell me where did you sleep last night." The lyrics imply that the young man is deeply upset and hurt, as he is aware that his girlfriend's infidelity could mark the end of their relationship. The song tells the story of a man who fears that he's losing his woman to the cold and dark world of the pines.
Line by Line Meaning
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
The singer wants to know the truth about his girl's whereabouts, and he's hoping that she will be honest with him.
Tell me where did you sleep last night
The singer wants to know specifically where his girl spent the night before.
In the pines, in the pines
The girl spent the night in the woods, which are presumably pine trees.
Where the sun never shines
The woods are so dense that the sun isn't able to penetrate through the trees.
I would shiver all night through
The artist is expressing his discomfort with being out in the cold all night, as though he were the one who spent the night in the woods.
Her husband was a hard-workin' man
The singer is talking about the girl's late husband and how he was known for working hard.
'Til a mile and a half from here
The husband was found dead not too far from where the singer and his girl are located.
His head was found in a driver well
The husband's head was discovered in a nearby well used for driving piles into the ground for construction purposes.
And his body never was found
The rest of the husband's remains were never located.
My girl, my girl, where will you go
The artist is questioning where his girl will end up going next.
I'm goin' where the cold winds blow
The girl is planning to head to a place where it will be cold and potentially uncomfortable, much like the woods where she spent the previous night.
In the pines, in the pines
She's planning to go back to the woods for another night.
Where the sun don't ever shine
She's specifically choosing a place where the sun won't be able to reach her.
I would shiver all night through
The girl is aware of the discomfort she'll feel from being in the cold all night.
[Chorus: x2]
The chorus repeats twice, emphasizing the singer's concern about where his girl spent the night and his own feelings of discomfort at the thought of being outside in the cold for too long.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Huddie Ledbetter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind