Book Review - Sing Backwards and Weep - Mark Lanegan
‘Sing backwards and weep’ by Mark Lanegan is as tough and unflinching an autobiography as I've ever read. This shouldn't have been a big surprise to me, slightly familiar as I was with Mark’s excellent solo musical output, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of pain and self-destruction within these pages.
In his own words, he was born a 'garbage can of a drug fiend', a teenage thief and alcoholic, the town drunk even before he was of legal age to drink. I did get the feeling he was eager to move on from his early years, though he does return to discuss his parents at later stages. We do get to read about his musical influences and how they shaped him.
Screaming trees
The bulk of ‘sing backwards and weep’ concerns his life as a recording artist and a drug addict in the nineties, mostly in Seattle. It's not a book for those faint of heart, as you'd expect - drug taking is described, rightly, in all its unglamorous detail. As Lanegan tours the states and the world and sets out to score drugs, you can't help but be impressed by the sheer will power it takes to be an addict on the road, to live that life. The descriptions of withdrawal aren't pretty - one epic scene, as gripping as a thriller, begins at a bus stop at midnight in a rainy Sheffield and continues through Europe before finishing in London, in what can only be described as, pardon the pun, gut wrenching detail. Lanegan can write, make no mistake,
Kurt Cobain
A lot of ‘sing backwards and weep’ also relates to the mid-nineties, when Seattle dominated the music scene. Lanegan crosses path with many figures from this period, most notable of whom is his close friend Kurt Cobain, whose demise he has major personal regrets over. A lot of people don't make it out alive and it seems remarkable that Lanegan is one of them. Just when you think he's fallen as low as he can, you turn the page and realise there's another level. And on it goes. It's like he's trapped permanently in one of Dante's nine circles of hell.
Although it's incredibly readable, I found it hard to race through this book. There's so much raw, brutal honesty and pain that I found I had to give myself a break. The writing is sparse, getting to the point quickly. There is humour of the bleakest kind to be found in some of his escapades, and some of his feuds are thoroughly entertaining, one of which is between him and Liam Gallagher, whom he wants to introduce to a fistful of quarters. Mark Lanegan certainly is a man who knows how to hold a grudge.
Sing Backwards and Weep Summary
’Sing backwards and weep’ is never self-pitying, nor does Mark Lanegan apportion blame (though some childhood memories are particularly revealing, especially those concerning his incredibly cold hearted mother). This is a story of sex, drugs and rock n roll, but more importantly it's a brutally honest account of one man’s descent to the depths and his eventual survival, thanks to what might seem an unlikely source. Having read this book, I'm now a bit more aware of how he has been shaped as an artist and will revisit his albums, in awe of the man and how he managed to survive.
One of the best music autobiographies I’ve ever read, with wonderfully written prose. “Know who you are and fearlessly follow your heart,” is apparently one of his maxims, and you’d know it from the pages of this book.
I wrote this book review back in August of 2020, when the book was released. I’ve been meaning to add it to my blog, but haven’t got around to it. Just this morning, 23/2/22, I learned of Mark Lanegans passing at the age of 57. I knew he had been battling with covid last year and had released a book about the experience but thought he had turned the corner. Sadly, it seems not. I hope he found some peace from his demons in his later years when he lived in Kerry, Ireland. Will miss the dark and distinctive tones of his wonderful, lived in, baritone voice. Rest easy fella.Sing backwards and weep by Mark Lanegan
352 pages
Book review - Mark Lanegan - Sing backwards and weep
April 28, 2020 by Hachette Books