As the last writer, Tim Martin, noted, this series of articles has turned into a drinking game. The previous entry was ‘16 Days’ by Whiskeytown. It’s now my round and I’m sticking with whiskey, but I’m also pouring one for the Holy Ghost and raising a glass to one of my favourite singers, Mark Lanegan, who died earlier this year.
In 1994, the gravel-voiced, former grunge-frontman-turned-solo-artist released his second album, ‘Whiskey For The Holy Ghost’. Writing about the record, the music website AllMusic said: “Lanegan’s voice, bathed in bourbon and nicotine, transforms the deep sorrow of the country blues (a clear inspiration for this music) into something new, compelling, and entirely his own.”
I was very upset when Lanegan passed away – he’d made one of his best albums in recent years, 2020’s autobiographical and often bleak ‘Straight Songs of Sorrow’, and still had a lot left to give. He was a true maverick and we’ll never see the likes of him again. Since his death, I’ve found it too hard to listen to his music, but this AUK feature seemed like the perfect way to ease myself back in.
So here’s ‘Beggar’s Blues’, the final song from ‘Whiskey For The Holy Ghost’: “And I don’t want to go, ‘cause you forget me when I’m gone.” Rest in peace, Old Scratch.
