How Anthony Bourdain inspired Mark Lanegan to write: “A great enthusiast and champion”
In 2020, two years before his sudden death at just 57 years old, Mark Lanegan published his memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep, with a dedication inscribed, “For Tony / And all my other absent friends.”
The “Tony” in question is Anthony Bourdain, the late chef, author and television host who tragically took his own life two years prior, in 2018, and before Bourdain met Lanegan, he heard his voice, introduced to him by another musician, none other than Josh Homme – the two were driving across the American desert, soundtracked to Lanegan’s music before Bourdain knew who he was.
“I was immediately inhabited by his voice, his lyrics, the experience of his songs – the darkness, pain and longing,” Bourdain wrote, in the “field notes” to his ‘Seattle’ episode of his series, Parts Unknown. “I went back and listened to nearly everything he’d done to date with his 1990s band, Screaming Trees; with Josh and Queens of the Stone Age; his incredible solo stuff; his many collaborations and an astonishingly diverse spectrum of brilliant musicians. I was mesmerised.”
Conceptualising the theme song for Parts Unknown, Bourdain enlisted Homme’s opinion, who, in turn, recommended Lanegan; the two musicians would write and perform the title track that, as Bourdain described, harnesses a “mix of optimism with a darkness.”
“Found something good in this beautiful world,” they sing, “I felt the rain getting colder.”
Lanegan would appear in the “Seattle” episode of Parts Unknown, as he and Bourdain swap stories about his musical roots, prolific nature and memories of a bygone Seattle. To Bourdain, the impetus of the episode came from his desire to work with Lanegan. “I wanted every single person who watches my show and isn’t already a fan of his to experience his music,” he proclaimed. “It’s that simple.”
In Lanegan, the respect was mutual. Bourdain consistently encouraged him to write, and he found a new confidence in his friend’s belief in his ability to go beyond songwriting and delve into the intimate (and at times, uncomfortable) realm of personal writing.
“The last thing I wanted to do was write some stupid fucking rock bio, and I’ve never written anything in my life—I graduated high school with a fake diploma,” Lanegan admitted to Vice in 2020. “But Tony was a great enthusiast and champion of my work, and when he wrote a blurb for a book of lyrics that I did [2017’s I Am the Wolf: Lyrics & Writings], he made it known to me that I should write a book. I sent him a prologue, and he said, ‘You’re doing it!’ That was it.”
In the midst of Lanegan’s writing process, Bourdain passed away, leaving him with the feeling of “an obligation” to continue writing in his absence. “He took his own life, which was stunningly shitty and devastating,” Lanegan reflected. “He was such a bright light in dark times and such an important person to me. At that point, I said, ‘OK, now I have to finish this book,’ even though it was the last thing in the world I wanted to do.”
As a writer, Bourdain quickly became known for his unflinching pen, whether it be exposing the seedy underground of the culinary world or chronicling his dually scathing and humorous opinions honed during his endless travels. His vivid storytelling continues to be celebrated for all its salacious, messy, wondrous detail, but more than anything, Bourdain’s writing was founded on an unforgiving honesty, a quality that Lanegan said he learned from his late friend.
“I was going to have to find a level of honesty that I was uncomfortable with,” he admitted of the writing of his memoir. “I walked into writing this book unprepared for what I was going to find.”
Devastatingly, with both of these brilliant minds gone, a talent for brutal, impactful storytelling leaves with them. Thankfully, we have their expansive works to remember them through, including Parts Unknown’s “Seattle” episode, where the two meet and reminisce on their lives with fascinating candour.
