Top 44 Mark Lanegan Quotes

Hanging out with the Trees is like hanging out with your family, and I hardly ever see my family.

All the guys I know that play guitar are also secretly drummers and vice versa.

When I do something, I do it for the specified amount of time, and then I do something else.

It took me quite a while to find my natural voice. I’m glad I stuck around long enough to see that happen.

I’m about creating a body of work and moving on to the next thing.

Whether I live there again or not, Seattle will always be my home.

I try and treat songwriting as something that I have to practise every day.

I just see what’s in front of me. That’s what I’m happy with.

Usually, I write the music and am involved in the production.

I can’t say what people use the experience of listening to songs for, but I would never tell somebody what it is supposed to mean. That defeats the purpose of making it. Hopefully, whoever connects with it connects with it in their own way, and it can mean whatever it is supposed to mean to them.

As far as I remember, I don’t have any warrants out for my arrest anymore. I can travel without fear.

The Trees was four complete nuts. We didn’t have a damn thing in common except insanity. So we fought a lot. And we had two brothers – who fought like brothers.

One of my very favourite poets was a Massachusetts poet named Robert Lowell.

Most of the music I’m into wasn’t popular when it was being made.

It’s satisfying and gratifying to make your own music, but I personally don’t get the same enjoyment out of the music that I make as I do from somebody else’s music that I like.

I enjoy the songs that I write, but I can never enjoy them the same way as other peoples’ songs.

I hope I’m learning until I’m dead.

We’ve made records for years on a shoestring.

I have to have animals. They really make life worth living, and my world actually revolves around them. They know exactly when it’s time to get up, exactly when they’re supposed to get their food, and they let you know. Mine are right there in my face, first thing every morning.

Even when I’m making my own solo records, I’m collaborating with people. It keeps things interesting for me.

I’ve learned that sticking around counts for something.

I have a high tolerance for pain.

What do I look for in a collaborator? Pretty much anyone who asks me to do something.

I’m open to life.

Everybody has unhappiness.

No one would hang out with me if I didn’t have music to make.

I like Jamal Crawford. He’s from Seattle, went to high school there, lived up there. He’s fantastic.

When I think of a hit, I think of Madonna.

I’ve had songs that were spread out over a number of years, and I’ve written some in ten minutes, and everything in between.

I was listening to punk rock in the ’70s as a young kid, but all by myself; I never met anyone that listened to that kind of music. Just by chance, I was in detention, and one of the guys in the class was Van Conner… I started talking to him and found out that we listened to some of the same music.

If Brian Eno wanted to make a record, I’d definitely clear some time in my calendar. John Cale, too. Those guys consistently make great records, always doing their own thing.

Doing something that’s physical but not necessarily mentally taxing – for me, it frees me up creatively.

If I have one hero in music, it’s John Cale.

I enjoy my own songs, but I can never love them in the way that I can love someone else’s song.

I’m not a human interest story, man. I’m just a musician trying to make some small records and be happy, be peaceful.

I used to throw a lot of stuff against the wall, just to see what ended up sticking; now I’m pretty much using everything that I create for a record.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to the point where I sent out Christmas cards! But if I did, they would have to feature my pets, that’s for sure.

The first music I heard that made me put away my comic books and make music was original punk.

I wanted ‘Imitations’ to be a fully realized record from start to finish, with a cohesive sound and a sequence that took you from one song to the other, just like I would with a record of original stuff.

It’s always fun to play songs by somebody else.

I’ve never been in charge. I’m just a lazy bastard.

I’d wear nice clothes and brush my teeth more often if I cared about what people thought.

It’s a lot easier to let someone else be Caesar.

I think I’ve just matured over the years.