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  • Sing Backwards and Weep

  • By: Mark Lanegan
  • Narrated by: Mark Lanegan
  • Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (231 ratings)

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Sing Backwards and Weep

By: Mark Lanegan
Narrated by: Mark Lanegan
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Publisher's Summary

The Sunday Times best seller.

From the back of the van to the front of the bar, from the hotel room to the emergency room, Mark Lanegan takes us back to the sinister, needle-ridden streets of Seattle, to an alternative music scene that was simultaneously bursting with creativity and saturated with drugs. He tracks the tumultuous rise and fall of Screaming Trees, from a brawling, acid-rock bar band to world-famous festival favourites with an enduring legacy, and tells of his own personal struggles with addiction, culminating in homelessness, petty crime, and the tragic deaths of his closest friends.

Gritty, gripping and unflinchingly raw, Sing Backwards and Weep is about a man who learned how to drag himself from the wreckage, dust off the ashes, and keep living and creating.

©2020 Mark Lanegan (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Critic Reviews

"Mark Lanegan - primitive, brutal, and apocalyptic. What's not to love?" (Nick Cave, author of The Sick Bag Song and The Death of Bunny Munro

"A stoned cold classic." (Ian Rankin)

"Mark Lanegan writes like he sings, from the pained heart of a damaged soul with brutal honesty." (Bobby Gillespie)

What listeners say about Sing Backwards and Weep

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Drugs are for mugs

Wow what a story. How The Screaming Trees ever put out the music they did is astonishing. A confessional tale which I’m sure would have been brutal for Mark to look back on.

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Addictive

It's corona time so I stayed up until dawn for 3 days crocheting and listening to this book. Loved it, as crushing and tumultuous as it was. Most memorable moment? The pink water. How was the narrator? Being read to by one of my fave vocalists is okay I suppose. Sequel please!

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Sing backwards and weep… a hard gritty re telling of a life less ordinary

I loved this. Lanegan’s voice is comforting as he strips back to bare bones and tells his life story. This is a honest look at the life of an addict. Sometimes sad, often funny and always confronting. I highly recommend

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant sadness

one of the saddest and most heart-wrenching books I have ever read or listened to. it is utterly brilliant.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Brutal

So many pieces of the Lanegan and wider Seattle story threaded together with caustic honesty and brought to life through Mark’s trademark baritone rumble. I wept.

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Captivating

I was so sad that this book ended. What a life he had lived. Always intelligent and entertaining, Marks narration of this book really touched my soul. I hope he has found peace and happiness on the other side.

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AMAZING!! GET IT!!

One of the best books I've ever heard. 10 outta 10 stuff! ! !

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Stunning

Wow what a roller coaster ride ! Fully got me back into the trees again. RIP mark what a amazing and twisted tale you have.

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Tragic, compelling

I listened 2 years after Lanegan’s death. Haunting. Provocative. A compelling listen. Lanegan’s monotone, matter of fact tone evoked a sense of realism. Recommended.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Self sabotage at its best ..

Mark lived on the fringes of success, watching his friends rise and some sadly fall, but self sabotage due to substance abuse always kept him and his band from greatness. I was a big "grunge" fan, 13 years old when it went "viral" and Screaming Trees were so close to being a Nirvana, Alice in Chain or Pearl Jam to me but they just didn't quite make it. That's pretty much how it goes in this story. They get so close but when given the opportunity (which the band gets more than once) they somehow blow it.

Mark doesn't take nonsense from anybody and I like how he stands up for himself. He is an intense individual. I can only imagine his potential if he had gotten clean earlier.

The book is incredibly well written. At points you can almost feel his desperation, it almost gives you an anxious feeling. This guy was friends with and rubbed shoulders with the greats of 90s music, but ended up a crack and heroin dealer, eventually having to swallow his pride and ask for money from those he despised. This book will give you insights into what the human body can take.

His voice is deep and a little deadpan but it doesn't take away from the story. You can hear the wear and tear in his voice.

There is a darkness to Mark that you feel for a while after this book. It seemed to end too quick as there are more chapters in Marks life after the ending...

I thoroughly recommend this and it's up there if you love a good rock story...

Well done Mark. I will be sure to check out your albums.

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